How to Appeal Your Case

A conviction after trial can be one of the most devastating feelings anyone can experience. Especially when you feel like you had a great case and you didn’t get a fair trial. Thankfully, the United States’ Constitution and the Georgia Constitution guarantee all of our citizens the right to an appeal. Whether it’s a misdemeanor crime or a major felony crime, the right to appeal a criminal case in Georgia follows certain rules. Often an appeal is time sensitive and it’s important to have certain documents filed correctly. A lawyer can always help in guiding someone through the appellate process.

This article will address some of the basic guidelines for an appeal after trial. Although there are many different types of appeals the can arise before trial, this article will only focus on the appellate rights that are triggered after a citizen has been convicted after trial. For more information on pre-trial appeals or other appellate options contact our office at 404-581-0999.

The First Step in Appealing Your Case

In most cases, the most effective way to set up a successful appeal is to file for a motion for new trial within 30-days of sentencing. A motion for new trial is heard by the Judge who initially presided over the case. Often, the issues raised at trial are revisited by the trial Judge and ruled on again. One example may be an objection a lawyer made during trial that the Judge ruled on without the benefit of researching the law further. A motion for new trial would allow the Judge to take a closer look at the applicable law and rule on whether or not the right decision was made during trial. If not, then the trial Judge would have the ability to then order a new trial. On the other hand, if the Judge were to uphold his/her original ruling, then it allows the lawyer handling the motion for new trial to frame the issue at hand for appeal. Motions for new trials can be very helpful in clearly establishing the legal arguments that would need to go up on appeal.

The Court of Appeals

In Georgia, we have two different appellate courts, The Court of Appeals of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia. The Court of Appeals is the first stop after many criminal cases. The party appealing the case from the trial court is deemed the appellant and the person responding to the appeal, often the Prosecuting Attorney who handled the trial, is deemed the appellee. Both parties are afforded the opportunity to make legal arguments through written briefs. The Court then rules on their briefs and writes an opinion on the case. The opinion is the ruling the Court of Appeals writes that details the legal issues, the applicable law, and the reasoning for the Court of Appeals decision. The Court of Appeals then has the option to reverse the case and send the case back for a new trial or affirm the decisions of the trial court and uphold the verdict.

The Supreme Court of Georgia

If an appellant or appellee were to lose at the Court of Appeals, then that party has the ability to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeals to a higher court, the Supreme Court of Georgia. The Supreme Court of Georgia can then review a petition to hear the case and decide whether or not to docket the case. It’s important to note that some cases automatically get appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. But for purposes of this article, we will assume that the party involved is appealing from the Court of Appeals.

Once the case is docketed by the Supreme Court of Georgia, then the parties will again submit briefs. Here again, the parties will outline their legal arguments and may add additional arguments based on the ruling of the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court of Georgia then can schedule the case for an oral argument. An oral argument allows the parties to present their case, in person, to the full panel of Supreme Court Justices. During the argument, the lawyers can be asked questions directly from the Judges and will be expected to respond to the issues raised.

Finally, the Supreme Court of Georgia, like the Court of Appeals, will then draft an opinion detailing their final decision.

From there, a party may have additional appellate options available through the Federal appellate courts. However, to keep things simple for this article, we’ll stop our conversation at the appellate process in Georgia.

How Can A Lawyer Help

I once had a professor in law school who liked to say: “if you had a brain tumor, you wouldn’t operate on yourself, you’d hire a surgeon.” Well the same logic applies to an appeal. The appellate process can be very difficult and require hours of research, writing, and following the correct procedures. As you can see above, the process can go through many different courts and there are several different strategies along the way. It’s important to have a lawyer at least review the transcript of your case to help you determine whether or not an appeal will be successful.

The lawyers at W. Scott Smith P.C. are all trained on how to handle appeals. Our goal is to examine the transcript with a careful legal eye and try to find a way to successfully appeal your case. If you’ve been convicted by a jury and feel like you want to appeal your case, contact out office today at 404-581-0999.