So I can blame you? Ha-ha...we've missed your input. I can't imagine why your moniker is "Knitpicker" and mine is "IQuestion"??...the ying to my yang!
Can anyone tell me if criminal appeals are normally successful? Does the attorney still get paid if the court of appeals rejects the case? If you have paid your attorney in full, as I see on the submitted docs, and the attorney dies....does the appellant get his money back from the estate of the attorney? (I question everything>) Does it keep moving up the chain of higher courts if rejected? Can a court reject the case but lower the years on sentencing? (LWOP to say 25 years, etc.) Look forward to your expertise or you tube links. Also remeber the Feds originally wanted to take over prosecution of CA, but the state of Florida prevailed....probably a good idea to still have a Federal case pending on CA for other activities...then there would be no double jeopardy issues.
It is difficult to say whether criminal appeals are normally successful, each one is different, and it would depend on whether the issues raised have merit.
For an appeal to be successful, the appellate court must find that the lower court has made a mistake, and only certain mistakes qualify. Those are the issues the attorney will raise on appeal.
Yes, the attorney gets paid if you lose. He doesn’t get paid a flat fee up front, generally it would be an hourly fee for the drafting of the briefs and responses. If the attorney dies, monies already paid for work already done would not be refunded, I wouldn’t think. You would have to find another attorney to take the appeal over, if that’s what you wanted.
If you lose at the level of the state appellate court, you can try to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, but higher courts have rules for what they will and will not take up on appeal. They only can take jurisdiction in certain cases, like if there’s a conflict between two lower courts on an issue that you’ve raised or if there’s an issue of Florida constitutional law, for example. It’s not automatic.
If the state Supreme Court doesn’t take it, you may have reached a dead end; in limited circumstances where you raise an issue of federal law (civil rights, for example) you may be able to appeal to a Federal Court and eventually the US Supreme Court, but that’s only in limited circumstances, I’m not sure if Charlie has any federal issues he plans to raise.
As for the sentence, you can appeal an issue related to the conviction itself or related to the sentencing, those are separate proceedings. But in Florida, if you’re sentenced to life, you do life, and murder carries a mandatory life sentence. So, if you’re convicted of murder and the court sentenced you to life, that sentence is not a mistake you can raise on appeal. You can raise issues related to the conviction, but only certain issues of law and evidence.
ETA - any attorneys can correct me if I got any of that wrong, I never said I was a good lawyer, and I don’t do criminal, but I have done appeals.