Brandon Armstrong Testimonial


To Whom It May Concern:

On November 12, 2012 I was arrested, along with 2 of my friends on Marbourne Avenue and charged with possession with the intent to distribute drugs. At the time of my arrest I had $8.00 on me and no drugs; however the police said they “found” drugs in the area. While I believed from the start that the charges against me were trumped up, was still concerned as I had only been home for a couple of months after serving time on a 1″ degree assault charge and I was backing up 11 and a half years on parole and probation.

With the help of my family I was able to hire Brad MacFee to defend me in the case. The first thing I told Brad was that I could not take anything on this case because if I did I was going to get smashed by the parole commission and the judge in my probation case. With that he said that we would prepare for trial.

The police report indicated that on the day of my arrest the police said they had been watching us for 4 hours. Moreover, there were numerous people that were present and things that happened that the police didn’t mention in their report. Brad first got my witnesses together and interviewed and subpoenaed them. The next thing he did was take an independent witness to Marbourne Avenue and literally measure the street and take photos of the area where they said they were watching. He came to court with blow-up photos of Marbourne Avenue which, by the way, he learned was not an ordinary city street in that it was 300 yards long from end to end, was curved and was fined with trees, meaning that it was very unlikely that the statements in the police report regarding the surveillance were accurate.

On July 30 appeared for trial before Judge Alfred Nance. As I knew there would be no plea, was expecting either a postponement or to be sent to trial in front of another Judge. That’s when the craziest thing happened. Brad and the other lawyers had a Conference with Judge Nance and then returned to the trial table. Wasn’t sure what was happening and the next thing knew Brad told the court he was choosing to have a trial right then and there in front of Judge Nance. This was strange because Judge Nance was not a trial judge on this date.

We had a short trial and the next thing knew Judge Nance found me not guilty of all charges. was as surprised and relieved wasn’t quite sure what to do or say at the time. Before I knew it was out of the courtroom and everything was over. Three months later, I was reinstated on probation, mostly due to the fact that had beaten the distribution charge.

While I went into all of this fully expecting to have to sit in jail for a year and a half before going through a week-long jury trial and putting my fate in the hands of 12 strangers. The fact that Brad was able to get the entire mess over with after 8 months with a 5 minute bench trial was a very pleasant surprise for me and may have saved me 11 years in the DOC.

I am very glad I decided to hire Brad to assist with my case.

– Brandon Armstrong