APPEAL AND POST-CONVICTION RELIEF

If you have already been convicted of a crime and sentenced to the charges you were convicted, you may still have an outlet to overturn the charges and get a new trial.

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An Appeal must be filed within 30 days of the court imposing your Sentence. Most errors during the trial and investigation phase of your case may be appealed and reviewed by an appellate court, so long as the issue was preserved and not waived. A plea of guilty to any charge generally waives all issues that occurred prior to the plea of guilty.

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If you’ve been convicted, sentenced, and the 30-day time period has passed, your only ability to reopen your case is to file an Application for Post-Conviction Relief (PCR). A PCR can generally be filed for three grounds: (1) There has been some change in the law that should retroactively apply to your case; (2) There has been discovered new evidence that should have been raised during your original case, but for some reason not of your own making, it wasn’t raised during the original case; and (3) The attorney who represented you did not provide effective counsel. Not only must one of these three grounds be present to file your case, you must file within three (3) years from the date of conviction or final decision, or of the new law or newly discovered evidence being found. Secondly, persons filing an application for PCR must ALSO show that they were prejudiced by one of the previously mentioned three grounds. 

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If you have been convicted and believe you have an issue for an Appeal, or have grounds to file a PCR, please call our office or email under the “Contact Us” link, with a brief description of your case, and we will set up a consultation as soon as we are able.