Peach State Lawyer Welcomes John Lovell to Our Blogging Team
I’d like to introduce a new member of our blogging team, John Lovell. John has practiced criminal law for a quarter century as an Assistant DA in New York and Atlanta. He also worked for 6.5 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta. For over 11 years now he has zealously defended the accused. A recent successful case John handled typifies his work ethic.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the top federal court covering Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, awarded John’s client a new appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. This will almost certainly result in a new trial. In 2009, his client was convicted of murder in Coweta County. However, she did not receive the trial the United States Constitution requires.
John accepted the case after his client had lost a trial and lost on appeal. 99+% of the time, the case is over at that time. However, as John looked closely at the record in the case, it became apparent to him that critical testimony was presented to the jury without his client having access to her attorney. John raised this issue in a habeas proceeding in Georgia. The judge who heard the evidence ordered a new trial. However, the state appealed the decision to the Georgia Supreme Court. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled unanimously that John’s client was not entitled to a new trial and that the conviction would stand.
John and his client did not give up. John was convinced that the unanimous Georgia Supreme Court was unanimously wrong. There was only one avenue available … an “appeal” to federal court using a mechanism called the federal habeas corpus. The federal habeas corpus is a mine field. The rules seem designed to exclude cases from the courts. The slightest mistake results in the case being forever dismissed. John had to flawlessly follow the rules and meet every deadline just to have his client’s case heard.
The battle wore on through federal court going all the way to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (one court below the U.S. Supreme Court). After reading his brief and hearing John’s arguments, the 11th circuit granted his client a new direct appeal which, based on the law in Georgia, should result in a new trial.
John began representing this client in 2011. It has taken six years to get a favorable result that will stand. John showed persistence on behalf of his client, a trait we pursue at Peachstate Law.
