Appealing a Conviction
It is not the end of the road if you have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail or prison. There is an option available for those convicted due to several possible factors, including poor representation by their defense attorney, errors by the trial court, and others. This option is called an appeal; if successful, a conviction can sometimes be overturned entirely, or there might be a modification of the sentencing terms. If a person feels they have been wrongly convicted and wants to file an appeal, it must occur within a short period of time – 14 days in Mariposa County. Failure to do so will result in a dismissal of the appeal. You should contact a criminal defense attorney in Mesa to help you, as the appeal process is extremely technical and requires skill and knowledge to handle it properly. In fact, the majority of law firms do not get involved in filing appeals, and could call upon our Mesa appeals lawyer to assist when they need to file an appeal.
Options for Appealing a Conviction
When a defendant feels he’s been wrongly convicted, he can appeal the decision. The most sought-after result is the conviction being set aside, or dismissed. In order for this to happen, it must be proven that the trial court committed a serious error during the trial or his defense lawyer was ineffective. This action would make the resultant conviction invalid. This is the best case scenario and if overturned, the defendant would have no sentence or any other associated penalties. Less optimum, but still more favorable than the original sentence, would be that an error by the trial court now results in a new trial.
A Rule 32 Petition can be filed with the original trial court on the grounds that the defendant’s defense attorney did not fully and competently defend him, or there is now new evidence that would be in favor of the defendant. The instance of filing a Rule 32 Petition for ineffective defense counsel is very common, but only a small percentage of appeals are successful in changing a conviction. The courts hold a very high standard regarding what constitutes proof that the attorney was ineffective. The defendant would have to prove that his attorney committed an error that directly led to his conviction.
In some cases, new evidence becomes available after the conviction, in which case the defendant could appeal. He would have to make this new evidence available, and if successful, it could possibly overturn the conviction, or set the stage for a new trial. This is a difficult legal process and must be managed with an exceptional level of skill from a Mesa appeals attorney for success.
There is another circumstance where a defendant might want to appeal, and this is when he pled guilty originally but then decides he wants to retract that plea. He may feel that he did not have all the important information available to him at the time and so made the wrong decision to plead guilty. Or he may feel that his guilty plea was done under coercion. Either way, he would have to prove this at appeal.
Yet some other reasons to file an appeal could be because juvenile defendants seek expungements, or the defendant feels that in some way his conviction violated his civil rights. He would, of course, have to prove that in appellate court.
Get Experienced and Effective Legal Representation for Filing an Appeal
The legal team at the Workman Law Group is aggressive and competent when taking on appeals. After thoroughly investigating and reviewing the original trial record, we can confidently advise you of your options to file an appeal. If there are grounds, you can be sure we will fight hard and effectively to present your case in the most optimum way in order to pursue justice and the best possible resolution, either an overturned conviction or beneficial modifications in sentencing. Contact us today.