The Candid Review: A Blog About Appeals

Getting charged with a crime and being convicted can drastically affect your life. Once you are convicted, you may be facing jail time along with other serious punishments. But being convicted is not the end, not all hope is lost. According to Chicago criminal appeals attorneys, you still have the constitutional right to appeal your criminal conviction.

Here are 8 steps that can help you win your criminal appeal and get another chance.

1. Find an experienced criminal appeal lawyer

The first and foremost step for winning a criminal appeal is squiring the services of an experienced and successful criminal appeal lawyer. Whether you are looking for Illinois criminal appeal lawyers or Jacksonville criminal appeal lawyers, the criteria for selecting the best lawyer remains the same. Your

2. Ensure if you are an eligible to make an appeal

Once you found a reliable and trustworthy lawyer, the next step is assessing your eligibility. This step includes checking your eligibility for an appeal since generally there is a time limit (1 year) from the date of your conviction. But good Chicago criminal appeals attorneys can help their clients find a way to be exempted from the time limit.

3. Find out your appeal will be heard

After working out the eligibility details of your appeal, you need to find out where your appeal will be heard. If your sentence came from a Magistrates Court, you will appeal to a higher court, which in this case would be the District Court. No juries are involved in appeals so only a panel of judges will be dealing with it.

4. File a notice of appeals

Now that you are done with all the initial process, it is time to initiate the appeals process. The first step of filing an appeal is to file a Notice of Appeal, which is filed with the trial court, not the court you are appealing to.

5. Reviewing the Record on Appeal

Upon receiving the Notice of Appeal, the trial court will start to prepare the Record on Appeal. This record must include everything that was considered, presented and spoken during the trial. Upon receiving these records, your lawyer will start to review every single document. According to experienced Illinois criminal appeal lawyers, reviewing the record is an important but time-consuming process.

6. Preparing and Filing the Opening Brief in Your Case

After reviewing the records, your lawyer will prepare and file an opening brief. It must provide a summarized version of what happened during your trial, and how you were wrongfully convicted. A good opening brief often highlights the legal and procedural irregularities that occurred during the trial.

7. Oral Arguments

After the judges have received and read the opening brief, they will listen to oral arguments from both sides. Whether you are looking for Chicago criminal appeals attorneys, Illinois criminal appeal lawyers or Jacksonville criminal appeal lawyers –always opt for well-spoken, experienced lawyer to give yourself a better chance of winning the appeal.

8. The Decision

Finally, taking into account both the written opening brief and the oral arguments, the judges will reach a decision to either reaffirm or reverse your conviction.

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