Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California

Re: California Supreme Court Appeal

Your boyfriend needs to file a Petition for Review with the Supreme Court rather than a further appellate brief. The Petition asks the Court to accept the case for briefing; if the Court takes the case, then he can submit a brief arguing the merits of his position.

The Supreme Court's job is not to correct errors made by the Court of Appeal, but rather to provide authoritative answers to important legal questions. In order to get the Court to take his case, your boyfriend will need to show that his case presents an important question -- preferrably one which has been answered differently by different Courts of Appeal -- and that the issue is important enough to warrant the Supreme Court's scrutiny. This means that the Petition should be very different from the briefs submitted in the Court of Appeal. Only small percentage of Petitions for Review are granted, and your boyfriend's chances of getting review will be greatly improved if he has an appellate lawyer working for him.

If he had an appointed attorney in the Court of Appeal, that attorney's appointment includes preparing a Petition for Review. Many appeals offer no issues which can justifiably be raised in such a petition, and if the attorney believes that to be the case here than she will decline to file a petition at all.

If your boyfriend does not already have an appointed attorney, it is very unlikely that he can get one now -- especially given the very limited amount of time available. Any chance you might have to get an attorney appointed will diminish very quickly, so you should call the Court of Appeal immediately (and I really mean immediately) to find out how you can try to get an attorney appointed to the case.

The period in which the Petition may be filed begins on the 31st day after the decision of the Court of Appeal is filed and *not* the 31st day after the denial of the Petition for Rehearing. If that petition has already been denied then the 31st day must be coming up very soon, if it hasn't passed already. The Petition must be filed by the 40th day, so there is no time to delay.

You can write the petition yourself, but your boyfriend will need to sign it personally since only licensed attorneys are allowed to submit papers on behalf of others. As I said before, you really should have an appellate lawyer do it if at all possible.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any further questions. I am certified by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California as a specialist in appellate practice, and I have filed many petitions for review in both civil and criminal cases.