Lawyer arrested in alleged murder plot wants to represent client going to trial this week
A California lawyer accused on Friday of spearheading a murder plot is prepared to go to trial this week—on behalf of a client, not himself, a lawyer said in court on Monday.
The murder-plot defendant, Frank Carson, is a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Modesto with 71 pending cases in Stanislaus County, the Modesto Bee reports. He also has cases in neighboring counties. On Monday, Carson’s lawyer, Percy Martinez, told a judge that Carson is prepared to represent a client who is scheduled to be retried on murder charges this week.
Deputy District Attorney Wendell Emerson objected, saying that if Carson’s client were convicted the verdict would be overturned on appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel.
Carson was still jailed on Monday after his Friday arrest on suspicion of murder and criminal conspiracy in the death of scrap-metal scavenger Korey Kauffman. Carson is one of nine people arrested in the alleged plot to retaliate for thefts on Carson’s property.
