Often times there are serious injustices and mistakes that were made at trial. My job is to find those mistakes and effectively present them to the appeals court. A successful appeal can overturn your conviction and get your freedom back.
When you appeal your case, the Courts of Appeal do not hear testimony or retry cases. Instead, an appeal from a conviction is decided almost entirely on paper, through written briefs to the appellate court that argue about the fairness of your trial based on the record from the original trial or proceeding.
Glenn L. was sentenced to 17 years in prison for allegedly having one ounce of marijuana in his car. He hired me to take on his appeal.
When I first met Glenn, he told me he was a boxer. That he wanted to fight.
When we started investigating Glenn’s case, we found out the arresting officer in his case was corrupt – the officer was pulling people over and lying about what he found and what people said to him when he wrongfully arrested them, just like in Glenn’s case.
I filed a motion for a new trial and we won that motion. Glenn L. had already served almost 2 years by the time I got his case but we erased 14 years of prison time off his sentence in a subsequent plea agreement.
A criminal conviction can have serious consequences and an appeal is often your best chance to rectify them. You need a criminal appeals lawyer with experience in presenting an effective appeal. When I take on an appeal, I review the record from your case with a fine-tooth comb, thoroughly research the law, and write a hard-hitting appeals brief. All of my work is aimed towards maximizing your chances of winning before the appeals court.
Though no outcome is ever guaranteed, I’ve had some remarkable success getting my clients relief on appeal and in post-trial motions. I’ve saved a client from receiving a life sentence on appeal. I’ve also cut 14 years off a 17 year sentence from another client. An experienced appeals lawyer can make a difference.
If you’re looking for an experienced Louisiana appeals lawyer, contact the Law Office of Sam Winston today.
How can a person challenge a criminal conviction in Louisiana?
There are several ways you can challenge a criminal conviction in Louisiana:
Each of the above requires that you comply with certain procedures and deadlines that can be complex and difficult to navigate. It is important to consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney for your specific case as each case is different and requires a specific assessment of the particular facts at issue.
When can an appeal be filed?
An appeal is filed after a person has been convicted and sentenced. Generally, you have thirty (30) days from sentencing to file a notice/motion for appeal in Louisiana state court. In federal court, you generally have fourteen (14) days to file a notice of criminal appeal.
What kinds of issues can be raised in an appeal?
Almost any legal or factual error that you think was committed in your case at or before your trial can, in theory, be raised on appeal. However, most often, the most likely issues to be considered and granted relief on appeal are errors of law (as opposed to errors of fact). Errors of law are errors that a judge made in your case – i.e. whether certain rulings that the judge made were correct. For example, the decision not to grant a motion to suppress or a decision to permit certain testimony over the objection of defense counsel are potential errors of law.
Conversely, errors of fact, i.e. decisions by the jury about what happened in the case, can also be overturned, but such instances are rare. An example of an alleged error fact would be to say that there was no evidence to show that the defendant intended to distribute to others the small amount of drugs found on his person.
Does someone have to serve their sentence while on appeal?
Generally, yes, you have to serve your sentence while on appeal. However, there are certain instances when the imposition of a sentence can be put on hold pending an appeal. This sometimes occurs when a sentence is short enough and the likelihood of reversal of appeal is substantial enough that there is a risk that the person could serve their full sentence while before receiving a decision on their appeal.
What are the steps in an appeal and how long does it take?
There are several basic, common steps in every appeal. They are as follows:
What happens if I win my appeal?
If you win your appeal, the State/Government may seek to have the appeals court reversed at the supreme court. In that case, the appeals process would continue to the higher court with the State/Government filing the initial brief.
If the State/Government chooses not to seek review of the appellate court’s decision, what happens next depends on what relief the appeals court granted you. If they grant you an acquittal, your case is over. If they simply vacate your conviction and remand your case to the district court, you may face a new trial. The prosecution will then have to decide whether they want to try you again.
What happens if I lose my appeal?
If you lose your appeal, you will likely want to seek review of the appellate court’s decision with the next highest court, which in Louisiana is the Louisiana Supreme Court. On the federal level, you could seek review before the U.S. Supreme Court but the reject most applications for writ of certiorari and accept only a tiny fraction of the cases that seek their review.
In some rare instances, you could also waive your right to seek an appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court and instead file a post-conviction relief application.
What is a post-conviction proceeding?
Post-conviction relief is the third major phase of a criminal case (if unsuccessful at trial and on appeal) in Louisiana. It is also referred to as habeas corpus on the federal level and in some other states. There are confusing and unforgiving timelines when it comes to post-conviction relief applications in Louisiana.
Post-conviction relief or habeas corpus is designed to be a relief of last resort and is generally not meant to address issues already litigated at trial or on appeal. Instead post-conviction relief is meant to address constitutional violations that have not previously been raised but that demonstrate that you did not receive a fair trial or were wrongly convicted.
Post-conviction relief claims are often based on newly discovered evidence that was not available or obtainable through reasonable due diligence at trial. This includes things like:
The other main type of post-conviction relief claims is ineffective assistance of counsel claims where it can be shown that your trial attorney was grossly incompetent. This type of claim requires a detailed review of the record of your case and often includes the hiring of an investigator and experts to support your claims.
Can new evidence be added in a post conviction case?
Yes, new evidence can be added in post-conviction proceeding. The general requirement for new evidence in a post-conviction proceeding is that the evidence is newly discovered and was not available during trial despite the due diligence of trial counsel.
Can a post conviction judgment be appealed?
Technically, you can’t “appeal” a post-conviction judgment but you can get review and relief from an appeals court and the Louisiana Supreme Court by filing for a writ of supervisory review (instead of filing an appeal). Put another way, a post-conviction judgment can be reviewed and then affirmed or overturned by a Louisiana State Appeals court under the court’s supervisory writ jurisdiction.
What is the better way to challenge a conviction, an appeal or a post-conviction case?
It depends on what errors you want to challenge in your case and how soon you want relief. If it’s a legal error that you’re seeking to challenge and you want relief right away, an appeal is better because you’ll get relief quicker and have a higher likelihood of getting relief for a common legal error in an appeal.
But if there is newly discovered evidence or fundamental, constitutional issues to the process of your trial itself (as opposed to the specific legal rulings by the judge), then a post-conviction relief application may be better. It truly depends on the specific facts of your case.