There are three ways in which a criminal charge is being charged over a person: through indictment decided by a grand jury, information filed by prosecuting attorney (called as district, county or states attorney) and allegedly committing that he made an offence. However, mistakes can happen; therefore, a provision is always there to admit the crime and feel guilty for it. Accused can even file a conviction plea guilty to defend himself from any serious charge.
Usually, after a state court has convicted and sentenced the accused or criminal defendant, he can file an appeal in the high court. He can ask the judge to reconsider the lower court’s sentencing decision for legal errors that may have affected the overall outcome of the case. However, if the appealing court grants appeal, the lower court’s decision can reverse altogether or in part. In case the appellate court denies the appeal, the lower court’s decision will stand.
Most of the time, under common law, the moment an accused pleads guilty, he is automatically convicted. However, a reminder of the trial is being sent to him so that the court can determine the sentence. This plea procedure leads to a system called plea bargaining, in which defendants/accused may accept his offence and plead guilty in exchange for mercy and more lenient punishment.
Grounds of Appealing a conviction
Usually, there are four grounds on which you can easily apply a conviction against the decision of the lower court:
1. The lower court made a serious error of law (plain error)
Plain errors or defects usually affect the substantial rights of the accused. However, if both parties try not to bring defects and errors in the judge’s notice during the trials, the court can still notice some. Thus, plain errors form a foundation for the successful appeal of a criminal conviction and open the opportunity to overturn various verdicts & rulings.
For example, a judge mistakenly miscalculated sentences after conducting a conviction. These miscalculations led the appellate court to return the case to trial court judges for resentencing the accused based on plain errors in sentencing.
2. The weight of evidence does not match or support the verdict.
It isn’t easy to conquer an appeal with insufficient evidence. Although the court does not hear the actual testimony, the appellate court reviews the transcripts and presentation of evidence and hears opening and closing arguments of both parties. But they are not always in the best position to measure the weight of evidence in most cases.
However, with DNA evidence, appellate lawyers can confront situations in court. In which they can mention how a judge wrongly allowed or disallowed certain evidence. At the same time, formal admission of certain evidence and testimony into trials would have led to different verdicts altogether.
3. The lower court ill-treated its will while making the decision.
Judges are designated to make the rulings throughout a civil or criminal case. Some of these rulings are made in legal areas that provide a wide range of decisions to a judge. However, if the appellate court found a judge abusing his decisions, the ruling was unreasonable, suspicious, random and did not support facts and law in the case.
Therefore, the law enforcement system developed federal sending guidelines to prevent a long-lasting history of abusive decisions favouring local bias and negative abuse in federal sentencing.
4. Ineffective assistance of counsel
Ineffective assistance of counsel means that the lawyer violated the sixth Amendment – The right to adequate representation and a fair trial. While analysing, if an accused claims that his lawyer was ineffective, the main goal is to determine the lawyer’s conduct in the court. And it has weakened the functioning of the judicial process or not. Moreover, the court will also determine whether the trial can be relied upon and lead towards further proceedings or not.
However, many appellate courts have been detained if a defence lawyer was ineffective or had fallen asleep. Even if his failures alone have not led to an unfair trial, the conviction will still stand. Earlier, appellate courts have been detained with a verdict if a judge was found asleep even if he was awake during material parts of the trial.
Conclusion
We hope our article was informative and guided you regarding various grounds for filing an appeal of conviction after pleading guilty. Although, it is recommended to consult your lawyer before filing such an appeal in court. He will first look for all possible outcomes, loopholes and grounds on which you can apply your appeal and have a result-oriented outcome. But you can also consider the guide given above for better understanding.
However, if you are looking for one of the best criminal lawyers in Australia, we recommend you consult “Smith Criminal Law” and rest assured that the case is well taken care of.