Cherry Hill, NJ, Appellate Court Lawyer

If you’ve been convicted of a crime and believe a legal error was made at some juncture in the trial process, you can file an appeal. This amounts to demonstrating to a higher court that the lower court was in error in terms of applying the law to your case. Appeals are based on what took place in the involved lower courts, which means that new evidence generally can’t be introduced. The legal intricacies of appeal are even more challenging than they are at the trial court level, which makes consulting with an experienced Cherry Hill appellate court lawyer early in the process paramount.

The Conditions Necessary to File an Appeal

There is more to filing an appeal than simply not being satisfied with the outcome of your criminal trial. Instead, you’ll need to show that a legal process used by the lower court in your case was faulty in some way. Common examples include:

• Improper interpretation of the law
• A breach of your constitutional rights, such as illegal search and seizure
• An error made during the court proceedings
• A wrongful conviction

The Objective of Your Appeal

The objective of an appeal isn’t to retry your case but is, instead, a judicial review of the legal process in your case, which will be carefully considered in relation to legal errors that could have played a role in its outcome. Your goal is to have the appellate judge remand – or return – your case to the lower court for further action, which will be specified by the appellate court. Common examples include:

• The lower court must retry the case.
• The lower court must modify its ruling.
• The lower court must consider evidence or information that the appellate review brought to light.

If, on the other hand, the appellate court agrees with the lower court’s ruling, the matter is resolved – unless appealed further to a higher appellate court.

The Path Forward

Once your original case is finalized, you – as the appellant – have only a brief window of time to file your Notice of Appeal. From here, you’ll have a specific amount of time to draft a written brief in which you argue your position on the matter of how the lower criminal court was in error regarding the outcome of your case. At this point, the prosecution is given a specific amount of time to respond.

If the matter can’t be resolved through these responses back and forth, each side will present oral arguments to the presiding appellate judges. Finally, the appellate panel of judges will review the arguments made and issue a judgment regarding how the lower court handled the case in question and regarding the decision it issued.

An Experienced Cherry Hill Appellate Court Lawyer Can Help

The focused Cherry Hill, New Jersey, appellate court lawyers at The Law Offices of Christopher St. John have an impressive track record of filing successful appeals that champion our clients’ legal rights and best interests. Learn more by contacting us online or calling us at 856-403-3926 today.