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Most people and some lawyers have no clue as to the process of a criminal appeal. Appeals are always different,  but the process doesn’t change. Understanding the basic concepts of a criminal appeal will help
you comprehend what is going on with your case.The following information will give you some insight to some common questions concerning  Texas Court Criminal Appeals.This information is general  and you should retain and seek Criminal Law Attorneys in Dallas so you end up with a competent criminal appeals  lawyer to
handle the specifics of your particular case.

What is an Appeal?

A criminal appeal is an audit of the trial to determine whether it was
fair for the criminal defendant. In most cases, the appeal court reviews the steps the trial judge
has taken during the course of the trial. That means they review all
decisions made either prior or during trial to make sure they were the
correct ones. It would be an exception for the court to review the crime conviction verdict by the jury to determine whether it thinks they were right.

Who decides appeals?

In Texas, the first criminal appeal goes to one of the Courts of Appeal.
There are 14 courts of appeals in Texas. Each court has at least 3
judges presiding, and most have more than that. Appeal court judges have
to be elected just like other judges. Every appeal is determined by a
panel of 3 judges. The court of appeal handles both civil and criminal
appeals.

Does the Court of Appeals decide Guilt?

For your information, a court of appeals does not decide guilt or
innocence. The court may discuss guilt in a limited manner. They will go
over a verdict to find out whether there is any evidence to back up the
verdict, which there usually is. This is known as legal sufficiency
review.

Sometimes, the court can look over the verdict to
determine whether it is “manifestly unjust”, which is known as factual
sufficiency review. It is important to understand that the court assumes
the jury finalized any disputes in the evidence in favor of the state.

The court does not get involved on whether particular witnesses were
telling the truth. The reason is that the court only has the written
documents to review. The court is only privy on how witnesses look on
paper, and not how they look in person which can be completely different
completely different.

If your Appeal is based on proving the
witnesses were untruthful, then you are generally not going to win. To
be successful with an appeal then you must find an alternative reason to
have a chance of success.

How do you start an appeal?

A Texas Criminal Appeals Lawyer will start by filing a notice of appeal. This is just a
statement that you want to appeal, what your appeal is about and which
court of appeals will listen to the facts of the appeal. The notice of
Appeal is filed with the Clerk’s office for the court you were convicted
in.

That court will forward said notice of appeal ( ie. Court of Appeals Dallas), along with
other documentation about the case to the court of appeals. In Texas,
the appeal in a Texas criminal appeals case has to be filed within thirty days of the
date you are sentenced. If you are filing a motion for a new trial, then
the notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after the motion
for a new trial has been denied.

Do I need to do anything other than file a notice of appeal?

Absolutely. The notice of appeal is only a portion of what you must be done. You
must also make arrangements to get the record. A criminal case needs criminal Lawyers and has 2
parts to the record. One part is the clerk’s record which is a copy of
all the documents filed with the court, such as the indictment, motions
and the judgment.

You receive that by filing a designation of
record, which is a list of the documents you want the court of appeals
to receive. Once you file the designation the clerk copies these
documents you want and sends them to the court of appeals Dallas. The 2nd part
is the reporter’s record.

This is a transcript prepared by the
court reporter of everything that was said in court. It is your
responsibility to contact the court reporter and order the record. Court
reporters charge by the page, so the longer the trial goes on, the more
expensive the record becomes.

Are there any limitations on what can be raised?

Since the court reviews what the trial court did, they usually are limited to
reviewing just the trial court rulings. This means that if there was
some error which was not raised during trial, then there is nothing for
the appeals court to review. The court also must just use the written
record of the trial.

Any new information cannot be admitted during
the appeal. For that reason a criminal appeal lawyer does not need to
investigate the case again, and interview witnesses again. This also means
that the court of appeals cannot hear any new testimony.

What relief can be obtained?

A Court of Appeals can either reverse and remand the case (sending it
back for another trial), or reverse the decision and enter a judgment of
acquittal.

If the court finds there was not enough evidence to
substantiate the conviction, they can enter a judgment of acquittal,
which is the same as the jury finding  you not guilty.

What must I do to win a criminal Appeal?

Just about all criminal trials have some type of error in it. Most judges
will make some mistake during a trial. However, finding an error does
not mean the case will be reversed. The Court will only allow relief
where a mistake is harmful.

To summarize, the error must have had
some impact on the verdict. This often is referred to as harmless error.
In many cases the critical thing you can do is focus on proving harm.
Most lawyers do not spend enough time on this factor. They’d rather
spend most of their time trying to convince the court that there was an
error. That can be a costly mistake, since you may win a portion of the
appeal, but lose the critical decision in the end.

Can I be released on bond?

The answer depends on the length of your sentence. A sentence of less than 10 years and you may be eligible for a bond. More than 10 years and you cannot be released on bond. In misdemeanor cases, you are entitled to be released on bond.

An exception for never getting an appeal bond is aggravated sexual assault.