My husband was convicted in trial for a federal drug crime. We are looking into appealing the case.

The main grounds for appeal are that the lower court 1) made a serious error of law and/or (2) allowed a verdict in the trial or entered a ruling or judgment that was against the weight of the evidence.

The record in the case contains the trial court material that the appellant would like to appeal. It is important to understand that the appellate court will not retry the case. Rather, the appellate court will review the case to ensure that all procedures were followed properly and whether the accurate law was applied and that it was applied properly. Weighing the merits of success in these areas includes a decision about just how strong the record is to justify your appeal position.

Talk with more than just the attorney who handled the case for you. Find others who are very experienced with appeals. Ideally at least one of the consulting attorneys you talk to about the appeal will not have been involved in the case before.

Move quickly though, because the appeal deadlines will be held strictly against your husband.

Check with a lawyer in your locale to discuss more of the details.

Good luck to you.

God bless.

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There is also the appealable issue of "ineffective assistance of counsel" and the record should be reviewed to determine if objections, and motions were used properly to your husbands benefit. As I posted in the other blog feel free to give me a call. I would be happy to discuss the options for his appeal.

I trust that your husband's current attorney at least filed notice of appeal in a timely fashion.

JC