A Virginia man accused of attempted first-degree murder pleaded no contest Friday after agreeing to a plea deal with his attorney. .
“This relationship is irreparable,” said Mauricio Barreiro, the lawyer, during the trial on Friday.
David Clayton Hanson, 32, of Madison Heights, Virginia, must find another attorney in time for his next court appearance on Feb. 21 and a trial in March, Frederick County Circuit Court Judge Theresa said. Adams. Otherwise, Hanson will represent himself, he said.
According to the charges, Hanson allegedly held a gun to the head of a woman in the town of Frederick and pulled the gun, but the gun did not fire.
Hanson is charged with one felony count of first degree attempted murder, three counts of first degree assault, two counts of second degree assault, and multiple counts. of guns, according to online court records.
There was a motion by Hanson to dismiss Barreiro, who filed his own motion to withdraw, or remove himself from Hanson’s case.
Hanson said Barreiro’s agent was not good at meeting his expectations, and Barreiro often told him he was too busy when he needed something.
However, Barreiro said he negotiated the deal Hanson wanted first, and later rejected. Barreiro said Hanson told him to stop working on his case since Hanson was looking into getting a new attorney.
“Between him and me, there is a hole,” said Barreiro. “We don’t see eye to eye on anything about this issue.”
Adams was concerned about Hanson’s request to fire Barreiro, Hanson’s second attorney in the case. Hanson fired his former attorney, Adams said.
He was concerned that the state attorney’s office might reassign another attorney if he fired Barreiro, as he would be firing two attorneys.
Hanson said he was informed that if he fired Barreiro, he would get a third lawyer, and possibly a group of lawyers.
Jennifer Dayton, a public defender, who was in the courtroom during the trial, addressed the court. He said Hanson was misunderstood.
“There has been no indication that a group of attorneys will be assigned to this case,” Dayton said.
With that, Hanson asked Adams if he could withdraw his request to fire Barreiro. Adams allowed Hanson to withdraw his motion to fire Barreiro. But he accepted Barreiro’s request to withdraw.
In November 2021, the charging documents state, a man, later identified as Hanson, approached a woman in the parking lot who was talking to another man. The woman had a protective order against Hanson from Lynchburg, Virginia.
The man, who was familiar with the woman, saw Hanson crawl around in the car, point the gun at the woman’s head and pull the trigger, firing. in the charge sheets. However, the gun did not go off and Hanson pulled the trigger.
The suspect approached Hanson, charging documents said, telling the woman to run and yelling that Hanson had a gun. Hanson said the gun was pointed at the civilian, but was not fired. Instead, she ran away and the man chased her.
During the chase, Hanson dropped the gun and other items, the charging documents state.
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