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FAQs About The Appeals Process

Here are some of the best FAQs about the court appeals process:

Are There Any Convictions That Can’t Ever Be Appealed?

If the condition comes from a guilty plea and the person has admitted to committing that crime, you can’t appeal that conviction. But any conviction that was contested, that’s gone through a trial, every criminal defendant has at least one appeal to file.

Are There Certain Number Of Appeals Or Certain Number Of Times Someone Can Appeal A Verdict?

Typically, you can appeal it one time to the Court of Appeals in your district. If you lose there, you can try to appeal it to an even higher court, either Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court eventually at the top of the line. If a new issue arises, there may be some eligibility to your appeal a second time, but in most cases, the one appeal is all you get.

What Qualifies A Conviction For An Appeal? Are There Certain Criteria That Have To Be Met?

After an attorney reviews the case, he might be able to give you an assessment of the chances that you have on an appeal. But as far as by conviction itself, there isn’t any specific kind of crime or conviction that can’t be appealed.

However, depending on how the trial ends, there may be a lot of issues that are good for appeal and that have a good chance of success or there might not be many issues. It all depends on how the trial went.

What Would Make Up A Good Case For An Appeal?

The harder ones are the cases where there aren’t any issues of rules of evidence. The judge hasn’t made any outright bad decision, but the jury found the person guilty and they should know it because the evidence was that bad. Those are harder to win.

On the flipside, if the judge allowed a testimony from a very damaging witness that should not have been allowed to testify for whatever reason; or if something went wrong with the way the rules of the trial were followed, there might be more success in that kind of appeal.

How Often Do Clients Appeal A Case?

Pretty much everyone who goes to trial and loses will appeal the case because as mentioned earlier, everyone gets to appeal and if they can’t afford, just like at the trial, if they can’t afford a private attorney, they can get one appointed for them.

So, if they contest the case all the way through trial, there are really too many reasons not to appeal a case if you lose.

Can Someone Appeal The Actual Sentence If It Doesn’t Seem Fair?

There are a couple of issues. For example, for a judge to impose consecutive sentences, the judge has to make certain findings that are supported by the record or the transcript and things that happened at the sentencing hearing.

If those findings aren’t made or if the evidence doesn’t support them, then sometimes we can get the case sent back for resentencing. Another common issue is what’s called Merger.

A person can be charged with multiple crimes for one thing. For example, if a person is charged for burglary and theft, breaking into a house and stealing something, but if they are actually part of the same conduct, they can only actually get convicted of one thing so the prosecutor can’t stack up a whole bunch of different charges just for one crime.

When that happens, the court can only sentence on one of those crimes. Sometimes the courts will impose the sentence on multiple crimes when they shouldn’t, and then we can get that sent back for resentencing also.

And sometimes you can just ask the appellate court to review the trial court’s sentence just because it’s longer than the person wanted. Most of the time it’s always longer than the person wanted but those are very difficult to win and there are some districts where they won’t even hear those appeals anymore.

What Are The Different Terms Used In These Cases, Who Is The Appellant And Who Is The Appellee?

The appellant is the person who is filing the appeal, so in our case, it’ll always be the defendant.

The appellee is the person who is getting their win appealed, so in our case, it’s always going to be the state of Ohio.

If you need Answers to More Questions Related to the Appeals Process, call the Law Office of Matthew Bangerter for an initial consultation at (440) 306-3205 and get the information and legal answers you’re seeking.

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