Federal Appeals

Federal Crime & Appeals Lawyers

If you were convicted of an offense but believe the conviction was the result of an error, you may appeal your conviction. You may also appeal your sentence. Appealing your conviction and/or sentence is the process of asking a higher court to review your case and determine whether your conviction and/or sentence should be upheld. There are two ways for your case to reach the federal appeals process: (1) you were convicted of a federal criminal offense or (2) you were convicted of a State offense but one or more of the errors in your cases involves a federal issue.

A federal case begins in a District Court. California is divided into four Federal districts: Northern District, Southern District, Central District, and Eastern District. If you choose to appeal your conviction and/or sentence from one of the District Courts, it will go to the United States Court of Appeals. The United States Court of Appeals is divided into Eleven Circuits. California is part of the Ninth Circuit. If you are appealing your case from one of the four districts in California, your case will therefore go to the Ninth Circuit. After a decision from the United States Court of Appeals, you have the opportunity to appeal your case once more to the United States Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court is the highest court in the country.

As stated previously, a case can also end up in the federal appellate process if it is a State case that involves federal issues. When you are at both the trial and appellate stage of your case at the State level, you want to make sure that your attorney is aware of any Federal issues that could be used to allow your conviction to be appealed through the Federal appellate process. Federal issues commonly involve violations of your Constitutional rights. Before beginning the Federal appellate process on a State conviction, all attempts at remedies in the State courts must have already been exhausted. Once the possible State remedies have been exhausted, a habeas petition is filed in Federal district court to initiate the Federal appellate process. Generally, for non death penalty cases, you have one year from the final review of your case in State court to file this petition.

Both the Federal appellate process for Federal convictions and Federal Habeas Corpus Review following a conviction in a California State court are complex legal processes with many rules and deadlines that need to be followed. For these reasons, it is very important that you speak with an attorney as soon as you have been convicted and/or sentenced if you are interested in appealing your case.

Contact a Federal Appellate Lawyer

Not only do our lawyers specialize in representing individuals facing federal criminal charges, but we can also help if you have already been convicted and sentenced. If we represent you in a federal matter and you are convicted after trial, we will take your case through the appeals process. The attorneys at our top-ranked criminal defense firm of Premier Federal Criminal Defenders can help you appeal a criminal conviction on the basis of a variety of reasons which include, but are not limited to improper inclusion of evidence during the trial, improper inclusion or exclusion of testifying witnesses, prosecutor misconduct, issues with jury selection process, juror misconduct, exclusion of exculpatory defense evidence, or errors committed by the defense attorney which amount to ineffective assistance of counsel, without which, the outcome of your trial would have been different.

What is critical about appeals in federal court is that there are certain time limitations for which to file motions, writs and other documents with the court. Because of this, you do not want to delay your appeals process and lose your right to appeal your case. Our firm exclusively handles criminal defense cases and we are highly experienced in all areas of the practice, including post conviction relief in federal court. Contact criminal defense attorney at our offices today to speak with a knowledgeable federal appellate lawyer for a confidential and comprehensive consultation.

CONTACT David Elden & Victor Sherman For a Free Consultation: 1-800-455-6200 or send message