Criminal Appeals Attorneys
Appellate Lawyers Serving Georgia
In some criminal cases, courts get it wrong, and a judge’s mistake can be challenged by appealing the decision. If you are looking for appeals lawyers, call Crawford and Boyle, LLC. Our appeals attorneys are experienced in handling criminal cases and appeals in both Georgia’s Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Contact our law firm at (678) 680-5000 or online to determine if an appeal is possible in your case.
Appealing a Criminal Conviction
Most appeals challenge a decision based on errors made by the judge, prosecutor, or defense attorney in the original trial, but some challenge existing law. An appeal is not a new trial on the facts, but instead looks to errors in the original trial and whether those errors impacted the rights of the defendant.
The first step in appealing a decision is to file a Motion for a New Trial. This has to be done within 30 days of the date of conviction, and a “placeholder” motion is typically filed by the trial attorney to comply with the time constraints while waiting on the court reporter to prepare the transcript from the trial.
Once the transcripts are prepared, our appeals attorneys carefully review them to look for errors that can be used as a basis for convincing a judge to grant a new trial or overturn the conviction. If the trial judge disagrees with our contentions, the next step is to file a notice of appeal and have either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court take a look at the case. Not all errors result in reversals.
Our appellate lawyers help clients with:
- Direct appeals
- Habeas petitions
- Cert petitions
The original decision is not always overturned on appeal. The appellate court may find that the error was harmless, or that the evidence was overwhelming, and the conviction will stand. However, the goal of our appellate attorneys is to craft a brief to convince the appellate court that errors in the trial require a reversal of the decision of the trial court.