Criminal Appeals Explained

Things have gone horribly wrong in the defense of your criminal case.  So, you are thinking about an appeal.  What does that mean?

An appeal allows a higher court to review the actions of the Trial Court to potentially undo errors in your conviction and/or sentencing.  The appeal is to a State District Court, with Ohio having Twelve Districts.  An appeal can raise many issues, some of which include (1) whether the jury just plain got it wrong (manifest weight of the evidence), (2) whether your attorney botched the case (ineffective assistance of counsel), (3) whether the trial court made a mistake (for example, should have suppressed evidence but did not), (4) whether the prosecutor cheated (prosecutorial misconduct), and the like.  An appeal raises issues of law based upon what is "on the record."

If the mistake needs some other means of proving the mistake, you might even use a Petition for Post-Conviction Relief.  For example, suppose that your attorney forgot to call your witnesses.  On appeal, you could claim ineffective assistance of counsel, but the whole story would not be known because those witnesses never testified.  You cannot simply take affidavits to the court of appeals.  Instead, you file a Petition for Post-Conviction Relief, where this new evidence can be considered.

Suppose the Court of Appeals makes a decision with which you disagree.  The next step up is the Ohio Supreme Court.  Above that is the United States Supreme Court.  Either an appeal or a Post-Conviction Relief Petition can go all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.  Many cases, however, end up in federal court through what is called a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, which challenges in federal district court the entire federal part of the case.  Thus, if the entire State of Ohio refuses to admit that your attorney messed up, the federal judge might take your side.

No one sets out hoping to appeal the case.  We hope that the system gets it right and that justice prevails.  But, tell that to the hundreds of people released from death row when it turned out years later that they did not do the crimes.  Sometimes the system gets it wrong.  Knowing your appellate rights means that you have a chance to fix mistakes the right way if they happen.