Appeals and Post-Conviction Relief

Appeal

If you have been convicted and believe mistakes were made in your trial, you can APPEAL your conviction if you do it timely. Usually, the errors must relate to evidence wrongfully allowed against you, wrong instructions given to jurors, and wrong laws that were applied. An appeal is basically a request for a higher court to review a decision made by a lower court, which can take months or even years to resolve. The appeals process begins by filing a Notice of Appeal, then both sides submit briefs with the appellate court. It is critical to effectively state in the documents what errors were made, argue why these errors matter, and support your argument with the law. After reviewing the briefs and in some cases listening to oral arguments, the judge will issue a decision over whether an appeal will be granted. If the appeal is denied, and higher courts agree with that decision, then the conviction will remain on your record, and you must begin serving your sentence if you haven’t already. However, if your appeal is granted, then your conviction may be reversed and overturned, or remanded, which could lead to reduced penalties, or even a new trial.

Post-Conviction Relief

If you have lost your appeal or pleaded guilty, the final way to challenge your conviction is by post-conviction relief. You have two years from the date your conviction becomes final to file the petition with the court that initially sentenced you. The issues you are allowed to raise in post-conviction are generally limited to newly discovered evidence, errors not previously known to the defense, new DNA evidence, a change in laws, ineffective assistance of trial counsel, evidence of witness tampering or perjury, the prosecutor intentionally withholding exculpatory evidence, and other issues which affect the interest of justice.

Your best fight for justice requires an experienced attorney with the time to review your entire case looking for mistakes with fresh, independent eyes. Your appellate attorney should be an experienced trial attorney who knows the law and can identify all the possible errors that occurred during your trial. She should also possess the writing skills necessary to clearly and concisely detail the mistakes, zealously and articulately argue why these mistakes or errors made your conviction constitutionally unacceptable, and convincingly support your arguments with the law.

Janet M. Perrodin will first and foremost give you an honest assessment of whether there are valid claims to make. This will depend not only on a thorough examination of the trial court record, but may also require action to obtain documents that your attorney did not have before your trial, re-interviewing witnesses to look for inconsistencies or changes in their stories, finding experts who can review fingerprints, DNA or other physical evidence. I know the law and will make sure you have a thorough understanding of the appeals process, and rights under the law. If my investigation uncovers a valid claim of your due process rights being violated, I will file a thorough and persuasive appeal or post-conviction relief application and be prepared to effectively argue to a judge why you should be freed, or your sentence overturned or lessened. I will do everything I can to convince the appellate court to reverse your conviction, so you can move forward with peace of mind, and hopefully, a fresh start.