My experience (actually my husband's) was that he was on bond for 3 years before the court was prepared for trial. I am presuming you are in different area so I don't know if the experience will be similar.

My spouse was looking at aggravated assault of a child to give you frame of reference to your alleged offense.

Every government department involved in the process has been consistently VERY SLOW. I've been told by several pretty reliable sources that cases that are unclear in guilt/motive tend to get stalled. Prosecutors want a plea deal or a sure win at trial.

That is the first thing I would advise you... to be patient. Don't let not knowing what is going to happen stop you from every day life. Had we known it would take 3 years, my spouse would have gone on more (approved) vacations or attempted a promotion at work. He kept thinking he could go to jail or etc soon, so he didn't see a point in trying.

Secondly, be prepared to visit the court every month or two. They encourage plea deals so the case does not go to trial. The offers are the primary purpose of these visits. Usually you just show up, wait for the court to check you in... then meet with your attorney regarding if an offer has been made. You decide right there if you accept or not. (They might let you take time to think about it.) These checkins never lasted more than 40 minutes. We never liked the plea offer until the actual day trial was supposed to occur. That is when my spouse accepted a plea.

For my spouse's 3 years on bond, very little changed in the offers. From my understanding, in my area, the state (not the alleged victim) has final say on pressing the charge forward, and the level of the charge. However the prosecutors heavily rely on what the victim prefers. In our case, she wanted my husband on the registry, period. She was unwilling to accept the state's repeated offers to non sex offense of the same degree (felony).

I don't have experience with public defenders. My spouse's charge came right after he filed for child custody... his family attorney was inexperienced, uncommunicative, and habitually late. So, I can tell you from my/his experience with family courts and unmotivated attorneys that the judge tended to be a little forgiving if you show up and your attorney is not present. I'm not sure if they are all that way or if ours was just that way.

Hold your head up. You can push through this no matter the outcome. Don't be afraid of asking questions to your attorney. Good luck!