Samuel Damon Lopez

I hired this attorney to represent me in Broward county, Florida for a violation of probation concerning marijuana. He said he'd speak on my behalf, mentioning my service to the community and try to get me into an outpatient rehab so I could get treatment while continuing to work and pay off fees. He received a retainer fee of 1,000 and I was never able to speak to him again until the day of court and he was late. He was charging me 4,000 to represent me on a simple case but me being inexperienced I wasn't aware how simple it was. He advised me against my best interest with the court, scaring me into accepting a bogus offer where I'd have to stay locked up for several months waiting for a bed to open up at a busy inpatient rehab and then locked up again in the drug rehab facility for six months. He never did what we discussed during the consultation, never spoke up on my behalf and when I said I wasn't comfortable with the offer and wanted to reschedule he said I'd go to prison if I did not accept this offer and we can't reschedule. I accepted it thinking I had no choice and fell into a deep depression. I later consulted with more experienced friends who said he ripped me off and I hired a new respectable lawyer in Broward county. We reset the court date, he spoke up on my behalf and I was soon released with more reasonable terms and was able to keep my driver's license. This guy made easy money off me and let me down not to mention his demeanor in the courtroom was unprofessional and the judge did not seem to tolerate him. Representation is everything so if someone is in the slightest bit of trouble I would not refer him but when I found out he was running for judge I was extremely shocked as I would think Judges symbolize integrity of which I felt he lacked. This was years ago but tears burst out my eyes as I type this now because I put my trust in him and almost ruined my life as a result everything I worked for I would've lost just because he didn't care about his client.