Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

The remittitur is the final step in the appellate process meaning it goes back to state court. The significance of a remittitur in a criminal suit varies whether the person is serving the sentence or is released or bail pending appeal.

A remittitur is issued after every appeal. It signals that the appeal is over. It says nothing about how the appeal was decided, since the same document would be issued no matter the outcome. The decision would typically have been handed down at least six weeks before the remittitur.

Just to clarify what Mr. Kubler states, a remittitur is the document that gives jurisdiction of a case back to the "trial" court when an appeal is concluded.