I would never go to court as a defendant without a lawyer. But, $2000 is just silly. The criminal law business is in the toilet and he should be able to find someone competent to go with him for $500-1000 anywhere in the US. Tell him to go to court tomorrow and approach the public defender in the room where he is scheduled to appear and see if he takes paying clients. Those guys typically are working for $40-100 per hour and are allowed to have a private practice.
public defender is always free of charge, but if he makes more than $2000/mos, he could not get a public defender.
he makes $25k/yr.
so, he is not qualified for a public defender