My experience with John Stobbs was highly negative, and I’m sharing so others can make an informed decision. I am a U.S. citizen with a clean record, facing federal firearm compliance charges that harmed no one and which are protected by the Second Amendment. Bond Revocation & Misrepresentation On December 13, 2024, Stobbs told me my parole officer wanted to revoke my bond over a restraining order. When I confirmed that the parole officer had no such intentions, Stobbs yelled at me over the phone, “You caught me in a lie. Congratulations! See where that takes you,” and hung up. That same day I was arrested and my bond revoked. In court, he withheld exculpatory evidence disproving the validity of the un-adjudicated restraining order, described my behavior to the judge as “odd,” failed to present bodycam footage that would have cleared me, and moved to exclude me from the courtroom so he could proceed without my input. Berating, Coercion & Threats Rather than defend me, he told me to accept being a “criminal” and discouraged me from fighting. He urged me to withhold my own footage and audio recordings — threatening that if I used them, I would “go straight to prison.” All of my recordings were consensual conversations exposing lies or manipulation, including by him. When I pointed out that privacy laws shouldn’t protect criminals from being recorded while committing crimes, he became hostile. At the jail meeting where I fired him, he shouted, “I’m not the criminal. You are! You are the one in the orange jumpsuit!” After hiring competent counsel, my bond was reinstated. The judge reviewed the restraining order and found it baseless, noting it came from someone engaged in prejudicial targeting through a police connection. My new attorney proved I had done nothing wrong. Manipulative Psychological Evaluation Motion While aware he’d been fired, Stobbs sought a forensic psychological evaluation and told my mother he intended to push a “criminally insane” narrative to keep me out of prison. The evaluation found I was perfectly sane, with only normal anxiety from eight months in jail. Inappropriate Comments & Prejudice In a meeting witnessed by my ex-wife, he used the N-word to describe a former client. On another occasion, after I said my values come from the U.S. Constitution, he replied, “But you’re still Ukrainian though.” Possible Collusion with Investigators He referenced conversations I had with jailhouse informants — never in my police interview — suggesting improper access to government recordings. He also fabricated an implausible “Chinese client” wire-transfer story and asked me for advice days before telling me my finances were under investigation (which he knew involved cryptocurrency and occasional Chinese transactions). Hopefully, an appropriate investigator will press him to identify this supposed client. Poor Legal Work & Overcharging Early on, Stobbs praised my legal research and said he intended to use it. Later, he abruptly abandoned it and began working against me. His sloppy motion to suppress excluded all my researched evidence — evidence my new counsel used almost in full while restoring my bond. I paid over $50,000 for Stobbs' representation, yet he appeared in court only twice — the second time misrepresenting me. He later offered $7,000 to settle our fee dispute — but only if I agreed not to contest his fees. Pattern of Misconduct (one example of several) In another federal case (Kurt Wallace v. United States, E.D. Mo., Case No. 4:24-cv-00978), a petitioner accused Stobbs of failing to file an appeal, making false statements about the death penalty to pressure a guilty plea, failing to object to sentencing errors, and neglecting to investigate key facts. The judge ordered him to provide a sworn affidavit addressing these allegations — a serious step and a matter of public record. Conclusion Based on my experience and a documented pattern of similar complaints, John D. Stobbs, II should not be entrusted with any legal representation.