First off, I found out about this law office through a piece of snail mail that I received shortly after my arrest. Their price for my case was the cheapest (and you will see why later) so being short on money, I chose them to represent me. My case was a failure to obey a reasonable request from a law officer. I was video taping in Baltimore and an officer asked me to stop and I did not. He then arrested me for failure to obey.
First, Shawn Wolsey who is one of the lawyers at this office was assigned to my case, I told him that the initial court date was not good for me as I would be out of town and he ASSURED me that he would request a delay. The week before my case, I called the court and was told that they never received the request. I then called the law office and they said they would leave a message with Mr. Wolsey. The next day I called back, then again the next and the next, only to leave message after message, none of which were ever responded to. I had my wife go down to the courthouse in person and she hand delivered the request since the law office failed to deliver on their promise.
One day before my case, I get a call from the office saying that Mr. Wolsey would be appearing in court for me. I told them ABSOLUTELY NOT. I told them that he could appear on the new date that they would give me. He showed up anyway and the law office told me that the money I paid ($395) would have to be paid again if I would like for someone to appear for the new court date. (Keep in mind that there was NO court date the day they showed up for me.)
I decided that I would go into court on my own and take my chances with the court. When I arrived, a Joseph DiPietro came up to me and said that he was from Charles Mentzer's Office and that he would be representing me. I asked him if I needed a lawyer and he said that I would have a more lenient punishment if I did. He then pulled out a paper stating that I would have to pay $395 for his services for that day and that I had one full calendar year to pay that fee.
As we walked into court, several people went up before me for much greater charges with no representation whatsoever and it was one after another "case dismissed". When I went up, Mr. DiPietro had worked it out so that I would plead guilty and get 40 hours of community service. Now I'm no lawyer, but I could have gotten this disposition for myself if not something better.
This court date took place on 10/10 and remember, I was told that I had 12 calendar months to pay the lawyer fees of $395.
I went ahead and did my community service, faxed over my papers and did everything on my end. On 12/18 I sent in my payment of $395 for the lawyer's fees. A few days before that I received a call from Charles Mentzer himself asking where his money was. I told him that it would be there and that the paper I signed said that I had one year to pay it. He said okay and hung up. It is now 12/31 and I just received a judgement in the mail against me for the $395 (keep in mind, this is paid already) and a $95 fee for them having to enter the judgment. What happened to the 12 calendar months? What happened to all of the promises? What happened to getting what you pay for?
As far as I am concerned, nobody should ever use the Law Officers of Charles Mentzer unless they have no other choices. Even if it was only half the price of any other firm around, I would call it a good investment to put your money elsewhere.
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