Unveiling the Appeals Process: Beyond TV Dramas and Legal Misconceptions

This episode explores the appeals process in criminal law, clarifying common misconceptions and outlining the essential steps involved when a trial verdict is contested. Listeners learn about the timeline, different levels of appellate courts, and the potential outcomes of an appeal, empowering them with the knowledge to navigate this critical aspect of the legal system.

• Understanding what an appeal truly entails 
• Key timelines for filing an appeal 
• Different types of appeals categorized 
• Overview of appellate courts in Texas 
• The briefing process and oral argument opportunities 
• Potential outcomes of the appellate court's decision 
• Limitations on appeals following non-guilty verdicts 
• Importance of timely communication with attorneys 

If you have any questions about appeals, give me a call at 210-775-0852 or you can click this link to schedule a free consultation where we will discuss your case. https://seanhenricksen.com/schedule-consultation/

We also have a free download for you: 4 Things You Should Do Right Now If You've Been Arrested:
https://bit.ly/2Xjj9Eh

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Sean Henricksen Law Firm

210-775-0852

3011 Nacogdoches, Bldg 1

San Antonio, Texas 78217

www.seanhenricksen.com

Episode Transcript

Sean Henricksen (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of what to
expect when you're arrested.
My name is Sean Henricksen.
I am a criminal defenseattorney here in San Antonio and
the host of this podcast.
I help good people like youavoid the devastating
consequences of criminal charges.
Today, we're going to betalking about appeals and the
appeals process.

(00:20):
Before we get to that, we dohave a free download for you.
If you click in the show notes,we've got a link in there and
we can send out five things youshould be doing right now if
you've been arrested.
We also have a link to schedulea free consultation.
You don't even have to call in,you can just click on that link
and schedule a consultationright from there.

(00:41):
Before I became a lawyer, Iactually had a misunderstanding
of what an appeal was.
I always saw on TV that if theylost the trial, they'd say
we'll just appeal it, and italways seemed to me that it was
essentially just a redo of thetrial, which is not what an
appeal is.
An appeal is essentially whereyou're saying that the trial

(01:02):
court made a mistake and you'reasking a higher level court or
an appellate court to reviewthat case to see if they agree
with you and to see if the trialcourt did make a mistake.
There are a couple of differentways where a case could end up
on appeal.
One of those is that if a casegoes to trial and if you lost a

(01:23):
trial, then you would be able toappeal that ruling to that
higher court and if that happens, you've got 30 days from the
verdict to file a motion for anew trial or to file a notice of
appeal.
If you file a motion for a newtrial, that actually extends out
the time limit to file thenotice of appeal, but that's

(01:44):
something that you should talkwith your attorney about to make
sure that you're meetingwhatever deadlines you need to
meet.
The other instance in which youcould ask for an appeal on your
case is if you have a motionthat the judge rules on before
trial, so like a motion tosuppress or a motion to dismiss
because of the speedy trialviolation, things like those.

(02:07):
Those would be common reasonsthat you may want to appeal.
If you think that the judgeruled incorrectly on your case
because they didn't follow thelaw, then that's another time
where you can appeal the ruling.
There are a few differentappellate courts and the way
that it works is after the triallevel court, which is the court
where your case is normallygoing to be at.

(02:27):
If you appeal that case, thenit's going to go to your local
appellate court and in Texasthere are several different
appellate courts in differentregions of the state.
If you disagree with theappellate court then you can
actually appeal that.
Also.
There are two different levelsof appellate courts.
In Texas You've got the localappellate courts and above those

(02:50):
you've got the Court ofCriminal Appeals, which is
essentially like the SupremeCourt for criminal cases.
Here in Texas.
If there's a federal issue orconstitutional issue, then you
can actually even appeal fromthe Court of Criminal Appeals up
to the US Supreme Court and askfor it to be heard there.
You have a right to have yourcourt heard on appeal at the

(03:13):
regional level.
You don't have a right to havethe Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals or the US Supreme Courthear your case.
In both of those cases you canessentially submit a petition
asking those courts to hear yourcase if it's at the right time
in your case and it's up to themto make the decision about
whether or not they want to hearyour case or not.

(03:34):
They can deny it.
They can do a couple of otherthings, but they don't have to
hear your case if they don'twant to.
Now what happens after you fileyour notice of appeal is that
each side is going to submit abrief saying why they think that
the trial court made a decision, or the other side is going to
have a chance to say that theythink that the trial court got

(03:55):
it right.
So each side is going to beable to submit a brief saying
what they thought was an error,showing the law, pointing to how
that was an error and sayinghow they think the judge should
have ruled.
When you submit the brief foryour side, you can also ask for
what's called oral arguments,where you would go to the

(04:16):
appellate court or your attorneywould go to the appellate court
and actually argue in front ofthe judges why they think that
the trial court made a mistakeand be able to answer questions
that the appellate court andactually argue in front of the
judges why they think that thetrial court made a mistake and
be able to answer questions thatthe appellate court may have
about their argument, and itcould be some back and forth.
That is not as common Mostcases are just ruled on on the
briefs.

(04:36):
But it's definitely apossibility to have oral
arguments.
But it's up to the appellatejudges on whether or not they're
going to have oral arguments ornot, so it's not going to
happen in every case.
One big difference between thetrial level court and the
appellate courts is the numberof judges that there are on that
position.
So at the trial level you willhave one judge who's presiding

(04:59):
over your trial or who's goingto hear your motion and argument
on that motion.
At the appellate level it'sgoing to be a group of judges
who collectively make a decisionand who discuss and argue about
your case and ultimately theside who has the most judges
that side with them is going todecide who wins on appeal, after

(05:21):
oral arguments or after thebriefs are submitted.
If there aren't any oralarguments, the judges will
review the argument of each sideand will ultimately make a
decision about how they're goingto rule on that case and they
may issue what's called anopinion stating essentially the
facts of the case, the law ofthe case that they're following,
applying that law to thosefacts and making a decision From

(05:45):
there.
A number of things could happen.
They could send it back down tothe trial court to have a new
trial.
They could uphold the trialcourt.
They could have send it backdown to the trial court to hear
it on just a certain issue.
There are a lot of differentthings that the appellate court
can do.
One thing to note on criminalcases is that if the jury comes

(06:09):
back with a non-guilty verdict,the state can't appeal that
verdict.
The case is over with fromthere.
It's really the defendant'sright to have an appeal on their
case if they lose a trial, notthe state's right to appeal if
they lose a trial.
I hope that this has beenhelpful for you.
If you're being charged with acrime here in San Antonio, or if
you have any questions aboutappeals, give me a call at

(06:32):
210-775-0852 or you can clickthat link in the show notes and
schedule a consultation with me.
I'd be happy to answer anyquestions you have or discuss
your case with you.
I hope you have a great day.