The underlying principle is that the court of appeals would want to prevent a miscarriage of justice. This can be a very powerful tool, when applicable. There are multiple ways to bring the Actual Innocence issue. As it is discussed in this guide, you can bring it on a direct appeal, assuming you retained a lawyer early enough and brought the appeal in a timely fashion.
If you did not bring it on appeal, you can still seek this argument on a Writ of Habeas Corpus. You can find more information about the Writ of Habeas Corpus on this site. Barhoma Law, P. In a criminal proceeding, the prosecution must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Ultimately, whether or not they succeeded in that is a question for the jury to consider. However, on appeal, the court of appeals has the opportunity to review the evidence. And if there is insufficient evidence to convict, the appellate court can overturn your conviction. And it is that record that contains all the exhibits and the evidence. Under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution, you have the right to a trial by an impartial jury.
Meaning, if you or your loved one requested a jury trial, but for some reason the court denied it or granted an opposition from the prosecution, you have a good appeal issue.
Under this issue, there are two things to consider:. You cannot be tried or forced to stand trial when you are not mentally stable. The appellate court will consider and overturn your conviction on this issue if, at the time of trial, there was a mental disability, and you were unable to understand the nature of the criminal proceedings against you.
This appeal argument is also possible if were not able to assist your counsel in conducting a defense for your case due to your mental condition. Under either spin on this issue, the court of appeals can consider and can overturn your conviction for being unable to stand trial.
The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 15, of the California Constitution guarantee the right to a speedy trial and the right to receive a jury reasonably quickly following the necessary milestones of your case.
If there was an unreasonable and substantial amount of time between when you were charged, and your trial proceeding, the trial court is supposed to dismiss your case. Failure to discuss the case leads to this being a legitimate issue on appeal and the court of appeals can overturn your conviction.
Once again, this is dictated by the records of your case. A careful review of the record will retrace the timeline of events. Generally, California law indicates that co-defendants should be tried together.
However, a joint trial will commonly prejudice one co-defendant or multiple co-defendants. In that instance, the trial court must sever the trials and try them separately.
One co-defendant may have testimony or confession, whereas the other co-defendant may seek an alternate defense or testimony. In that instance, a joint trial would simply prejudice one, if not both, co-defendants.
As such, in an instance where there could have been two co-defendants, but the prosecutor demanded one joint trial, then the court of appeals can overturn your conviction. If you are prosecuted pursuant to an unconstitutional statute, the very underlying principle of your conviction cannot stand.
Therefore, you can seek an appeal to overturn your conviction. If a criminal law abridges the freedom of speech or of the press, you can challenge it on that basis both in trial and on appeals. You have the right to a speedy trial, but also a public one, and for good reason.
If the judge gags the courtroom improperly or mandates that the court be closed for your trial, then you have a right to appeal and potentially overturn that conviction. Most crimes are defined by state statues. However, there is mandate that statutes be clear and not overbroad. If the underlying statute that led to your conviction is too broad, you can file an appeal.
On appeal, the court looks to determine whether the statute was overbroad, so as to fail to give notice of what is deemed legal and illegal behavior. As discussed, you have the constitutional right to a speedy trial. Additionally, the state of California has enacted Section of its penal code, which also lays out that you have the right to a speedy trial. It defines a speedy trial as a trial within 30 days for misdemeanors and 60 days for felonies. If the prosecution fails to bring your trial by that deadline, the court must dismiss your case.
If the court failed to dismiss your case, you can pursue this as an appeals issue and potentially overturn your conviction. However, the California mandate has a cleaner and better balancing test. Again, if this right is abridged and the trial court does not appropriately dismiss your case for violation of a speedy trial, then you can pursue this on appeal.
The appellate court may be able to overturn your conviction. Even if the jury witnessed you or a loved one in an inmate jumpsuit or getting detained by the court bailiff, you have a clear right to appeal.
If the jury witnesses any of these items, they are more than likely to convict you of a crime, regardless of the evidence because the jury simply thinks you are a criminal. Before the jury ever enters the court room, you or your loved one should appear as a regular civilian. Similarly, only after the jury exits the courtroom, can the bailiff take you or your loved one back into custody.
If there was a violation of this right, then the court of appeals may overturn your conviction. There is a narrow exception to this rule, called manifest necessity. This rule comes into play, for example, if you or your loved one were seen attacking someone in the courtroom and had to be restrained. However, almost always, that is not the case. As discussed above, being perceived as a criminal will only prejudice the jury against you.
In a normal setting, you or your loved one, are usually allowed to change into some type of suit before trial commences or the jury enters the room. Generally, you or your loved one is allowed to be present during the trial at all times. There is a very minor and narrow exception to this, where the judge may properly exclude the defendant if the defendant is being disorderly and the judge issued a warning against it.
However, this exclusion is rarely permissible. If you were excluded from the courtroom for portions of your trial, the conviction may be overturned on appeal. Once again, a careful review of the transcript is required to make this determination. There are procedural safeguards in place to ensure fairness to the legal process. This is intended to ensure fairness and due process of law without any undue influence to the jury.
Same goes for the prosecutor. The prosecutor cannot communicate with the jury without you or your lawyer present. These include things like failing to talk to certain witnesses, failing to investigate your case, or failing to make certain types of objections at trial. Writs of habeas corpus are often used to challenge guilty pleas, since a guilty plea usually includes a waiver of direct appeal. Ineffective assistance of counsel claims can be used to challenge guilty pleas.
For example, your lawyer may have not investigated your case and uncovered evidence that would have helped you or may not have made an obvious legal argument that could have caused your case to be dismissed. Your lawyer may be able to argue that newly discovered evidence of innocence should cause the verdict to be overturned, or that the prosecution failed to disclose evidence that would have helped you at trial.
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