Complaint Review: The Review research company

My Brother received a letter from these people as he is in Prison and they offered to research his case for his upcoming appeal. We paid the fee and the only thing we have received is the run around for well over a year. I Finally thought after about 11 months I was gonna get some answers when someone at the location that I called who went by the name of Anthony Powell, told me that my brother had a great case and apologized profusely for it "being put aside" but said he was working diligently on it along with other law students who just saw so much promise in getting this conviction overturned. He was always talking about how they got this guy off of death row and all of their vistories from their hardwork. He also made me believe that there was this law firm that he was associated with that did pro bono work that really wanted to help my brother also which I felt was a Godsend since we do not have alot of money left for an attorney. He spent much time telling me about this for about 6 weeks or so always giving me great progress reports and telling me that the brief was complete and that he gave it on to this law firm. When I asked for a copy he said it would be on its way to my brother. Then He had me call this other number and said the law firm wanted to speak to me immediately so that they could get going as time was running out. So I called this firm several times and received no answer. I called this Anthony Powell back after waiting a day or two and told him I was having no luck reaching this Law Firm. So he told me to call him back in a moment and I did and he said, okay I just spoke to them, call now. So I did and someone saying his name was Joseph Jamison answered and we spoke for a while. He told me he had the finished brief and was prepared to do all that was necessary and reiterated that we had a great shot at winning.I felt wonderful but then he asked me for money. I told him I thought it was pro-bono and he said after reviewing the case it seemed they would have to charge me this small fee of $2500 to cover the legwork involved and then he said it was much less than regular attorneys would charge. I knew he was right but something still didnt feel right about it. I told him I would give it some thought and get back to him. He told me we need to do it quickly as my brothers time is running out to appeal. So I began to research, first I looked over their website again but now see it has been taken down (Focus Law Firm or Focus Law Group). Then I looked up Review Case Research company and saw that they now had a newly created website which they have had many but the latest was redesigned this year (2010). I had some information I printed out off of the Focus law group website and noticed it said they were members of Bar associations in Many states so I began to contact them and saw that they were not and was told in Atlanta that they had a pending claim against them and the BAR association gave them 24 hours to shut down their website. I knew then that it was a total scam as I suspected. I tried to contact Anthony Powell again at Review case Research group and left him several messages saying that I did not want to work with this Law Group he so highly recommended(Knowing they were non-existent by now) and that we would be looking for the the finished brief that he said he was going to mail. Needless to say, we have never received any brief and here it is several months later and Anthony Powell will not even answer my calls or respond to my messages. I know they are under investigation so I hope they will close them down but until then please heed my warning as it is a horrible waste of time. Now we only have 3 months left to file for my brother and have to have someone, an attorney this time, start all over with his research because they didn't fulfill anything that they said they would do for us, and wont even communicate with us. If we do not meet the deadline, my brother is simply doomed to serve the whole sentence of 20 more years because we trusted The review Case research company to do what they said. Instead we just got robbed of our money and alot of precious time and they would have gotten alot more if we had not suspected something.They are the real criminals here and I promise you, as all scam artist do, they will continue to get different websites, different phone numbers, and different P.O. Boxes as long as inmates or the families of them will send them money thinking they are getting a service for it. I pray that you will spared this heartache that we have had to endure with this fictitious company, both of them. I read the other report on here and that person was right, Anthony Powell as well as the other guy he had me speak to were both very knowledgeable legally which really makes you feel secure and that all is legitimate. But unfortunately, you cannot deny the outcome of receiving nothing and I just feel so much distress over entrusting my brothers life to these scammers for so long thinking we were ready to win this per Review Case Research Company, only to be left with pain, disappointment, and 3 whole months to start all over and get all this research together and filed in time. I really hope none of you have to experience this.All The Best!