Atlanta’s Top Criminal Appeals Lawyers

All lawyers who argue in appellate courts can be considered appellate lawyers. You should work with a lawyer with experience in appellate courts, and with the criminal appeals process. We have several lawyers, including Atlanta federal appeals lawyers, who may be able to offer the expertise you need. 

The time you have to appeal your case depends on why the appeal you’re making. Most appeals in Georgia must be filed within 30 days of the conviction. State habeas corpus petitions can be filed within four years, and there are other exceptions. You should speak to a lawyer to verify you are still eligible to appeal.

Whether a ground for appeal is strong or weak depends entirely on your individual case and the knowledge and skill of your appellate attorney. Seemingly obscure issues may lead to reversals in some cases, and apparently obvious issues in others may prove harmless or irrelevant to the conviction. It is important for any appeal to have an attorney versed in the hundreds of ground on which previous cases have been reversed: deficient performance of trial counsel, evidentiary errors, Constitutional violations, mis-readings of statutes, and much more. 

Winning an appeal depends very much on the issues in your case and the knowledge and skill of your appellate attorney, among other things. While criminal appeals generally succeed around 12 percent of the time, an experienced appellate attorney can help get your case heard on the merits where that percentage increases considerably. Garland, Samuel & Loeb has assisted clients with appeals for nearly 100 years, succeeding now for three generations.

Defense attorneys’ mistakes at trial often actually violate a defendant’s Constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel and lead to new trials. Likewise, trial courts commonly make crucial errors in admitting or excluding evidence, allow violations of other Constitutional rights, or provide incorrect jury instructions. A skilled appellate attorney can review your case and spot any of dozens of types of crucial errors that may win on appeal. 

In Georgia, most appeals in state cases begin with a Motion for New Trial. This is presented to the trial judge. This motion argues that there were legal errors that occurred at the trial which require either a reversal of the conviction or a new trial. The motion may also argue that the evidence was insufficient to convict the accused with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. If that motion is denied, then a Notice of Appeal is filed and the case goes either to the Georgia Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of Georgia, depending on the charges of conviction. The appellate process in your case may differ slightly depending on the specific facts of your case.

Once the appellate court accepts and “dockets” an appeal, the parties must then meet deadlines to file written briefs, detailing their cases. If the court considers the issues important enough, it will also allow oral argument after the briefs are filed. The court will then consider the arguments from both sides and issue its opinion. The full process may take anywhere from a few months to nearly a year.

If the higher court decides in favor of with the appealing party (the “appellant”), it will “reverse” or “vacate” the lower court’s judgment. The appellate court may vacate all or part of a conviction or lower court’s ruling. It will then require the lower court to “redo” the case (or part of the case), this time following the higher court’s new directions.

Importantly, a “win” on an appeal does not in most cases mean your charges have been dropped. Vacating the lower court’s judgment removes the conviction and clears the way for a possible retrial.

Generally, an appeal is a vehicle for challenging a conviction at trial. In the Georgia Court of Appeals, the appeal is heard by three entirely new judges. In the Georgia Supreme Court, nine Justices hear the appeal. In federal cases tried in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, three judges in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the appeal.

The defendant, having been found guilty, will assert in the appeal that the trial was unfair for a variety of reasons: The prosecutor was permitted to introduce evidence that was inadmissible (such as hearsay); the defense was prohibited from introducing evidence that should have been admitted; the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights to be free from an illegal search or seizure were violated and the trial judge did not correctly decide this issue in the trial court; the evidence at trial was not sufficient to support the conviction, notwithstanding the decision of the jury; the defendant’s trial counsel was either incompetent, or made a significant mistake at trial, or in preparing for trial and locating favorable witnesses. These are just a sample of the types of errors that can support a successful appeal.

With limited exceptions, a successful appeal does not end the case entirely. Rather, in most cases, the appellate court (the Georgia Court of Appeals, or the Georgia Supreme Court, or the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals) will send the case back to the trial court to conduct a new trial but without the error that led to the reversal of the conviction. Nevertheless, often, when a case is sent back to the trial court, the prosecutor will not be interested in trying the case again and may offer a far more lenient plea bargain to be done with the case.

A habeas corpus petition is somewhat like an appeal, but rather than challenging the conviction in the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, the defendant challenges some aspect of the conviction in the county in which the defendant is incarcerated. The habeas petition is filed in the Superior Court of that county. Unlike an appeal, in a habeas case, the defendant may present evidence to show why the original trial was unfair, or the defendant’s constitutional rights were violated. Generally, a habeas petition is filed after the defendant has lost the direct appeal.

We win appeals by demonstrating reversible errors or Constitutional violations that occurred before or during trial. Winning depends on spotting the strongest issues, providing skilled legal writing and argument, and broad experience of case law and appellate procedure. The hallmark of effective appellate advocacy is winnowing out weaker arguments and focusing on those most likely to prevail.

If a defendant appeals their conviction and loses the appeal, the conviction is “affirmed,” and the appellant must face the trial court’s sentence. This may involve serving the sentence, or seeking other post-conviction relief, such as a petition for habeas corpus.

Roughly 30 percent of appeals are lost at the outset due to various procedural issues. Your appeal could get rejected without even being heard if you or your attorney fail to meet crucial deadlines, fail to include specific information in various filings, or neglect the details of other statutory requirements. This is just one reason it is crucial to hire an experienced appellate attorney for your appeal.

Once an appeal is accepted and heard on the merits, the appellate court may still decide in favor of the other party. Likewise, an appellate court may decide that even though certain errors occurred in the trial court, those errors did not prejudice the defendant enough to require a reversal of the conviction. This is called “harmless error.”