Legal Question in Criminal Law in Alabama

Re: Should this attorney be doing more than he has or is?

If your boyfriend has not yet been sentenced, then it is too early to file the Notice of Appeal. Notice of Appeal is filed after sentencing. Right now, you need to be planning what you will present in your boyfriend's defense at the sentencing hearing. At sentencing, family members and friends can testify in court on behalf of your boyfriend. The goal is to show the judge that your boyfriend has the support of family and friends in the community, and that your boyfriend should be given probation or at least only a short prison sentence. If your boyfriend has a substance abuse problem, the sentencing hearing would be a good time to try to persuade the judge to let him go into a treatment program rather than prison. If that is one of the options you are considering, you should go ahead and get your boyfriend on the admissions waiting list so you can show the judge that he has been accepted into a program.

Although you have paid the attorney in full for the trial, he will probably require an additional fee for the appeal. Most attorneys do not include the cost of an appeal in the initial fee quote. If he is going to charge you a new fee for the appeal, you should find out now what the fee will be so that you can pay it as soon as possible. You only have a limited amount of time to file the appeal once your boyfriend is sentenced, and you would not want the appeal time to run out while you were trying to round up the money for the attorney's fee. Also, when your attorney files the Notice of Appeal, he can also file a motion asking that your boyfriend be allowed out of jail on bond while the appeal is pending, so you want your attorney ready to appeal the case as soon as sentencing is over.

If your boyfriend's attorney does not do appellate work or if you are planning to use a new attorney for the appeal, make sure to find a criminal defense attorney with experience handling appellate cases to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. My firm handles appellate work, so if we can be of any assistance please feel free to call me.

Good luck. I hope the situation improves for you soon.