⚖️ Court grants Dylan Deschaine’s request to remove attorney Michael Weinstock after a Nelson hearing motion.
👨⚖️ Crestview lawyer Marty Knopes is expected to take over as Deschaine’s third court-appointed defense attorney.
📄 Deschaine’s handwritten motion accuses Weinstock of failing to defend him properly and cites constitutional violations.
Michael Weinstock will no longer serve as Dylan Deschaine’s attorney.
Deschaine, accused of murdering Okaloosa County restauranteur Mike Ledford in February of 2024, filed a nine page motion with the courts on August 15, 2025 to ask for a Nelson hearing.
The Nelson hearing is an administrative proceeding where a defendent asks for the court to fire their attorney for incompetence, malpractice, or failing to defend the client adequately.
In his motion to withdraw, Weinstock told the court, “An impasse has been reached int he handling of the case, making it impossible for the client and the attorney to continue to work cooperatively on the case.”
In his single-page memo, Weinstock asked the court to appoint another attorney to defend Deschaine in his case.
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We reached out to Weinstock via telephone. He told us that he was not allowed to comment on the case.
The court granted the reques, and Weinstock says they appointed Marty Knopes of Crestview to represent the defendant.
We reached out to the Knopes Law Office about the case, but a representative for the firm says they have not received the order from the court appointing them to the defense of Descahine.
Knopes will be the third representative for Deschaine in this case. Weinstock was appointed by the court in June of 2024.
In a handwritten, nine-page memo to the court, Deschaine pleaded to the courts to remove Weinstock from the case. Deschaine cited Strickland V. Washington.
He also claimed that his Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated by Weinstock’s advocacy on his behalf.
Deschaine cited Weisntock’s performance in his stand-your-ground hearing as the main reason he wanted new representation.
He also argues that there are video recordings of the incident that the prosecution has not turned over in discovery that would prove his innocence, or that Weinstock withheld it from him.
He also noted that “there is no record of said attorney sending or providing Defendant with (any) discovery via mail to Okaloosa County Jail.”
In a separate letter to the Florida Bar Association, the organization that governs lawyers in the state, he requested an investigation of Weinstock, along with a $15,000,000 fine.
The court will likely need to provide time for the new defense counsel to familiarize themselves with the case details, which will result in another delay.
The Okaloosa Clerk of Courts website has not shown an update for the next action to be taken on the case.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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