AARON HOLT

I have largely been influenced by my encounters with two very different attorneys when I had legal troubles as a young man. One attorney treated me with dignity. He wanted to preserve my good name, and he fashioned an effective defense on my behalf.

I also had an encounter with another attorney who was not invested in protecting my good name. He never attempted to contact me, nor did he ever ask me what my version of the events were. He only cared about getting me to plead. I ended up pleading to something I did not do.

I paid dearly for that decision over the years. I could only watch in shock as I was denied various employment opportunities after being told that my criminal record was disqualifying. At one point in my life, I was forced to live in a particularly poor and violent community for years, because most other rental properties informed me that I was unable to pass a routine background check.