Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

By the deadline[s] the court provides you after filing you notice.

If you don't really know how to effectively 'do' an appeal, you really should hire experienced counsel to do it, or at least to advise you whether you have any valid grounds for an appeal. Good counsel will be able to give you an opinion after full case review as to what, if any, chance you have of success. You are up against 'statistics'. Even with good counsel, the success rate of criminal appeals is probably around 5%. But,every case is different, and yours might be one of those few.

On your own you are going to have to do: case transcript and evidence review, legal research, study, learn, analyze, write and support your appeal's legal, procedural and factual 'claims of error' with sound legally supported arguments. You will have to perform the same work and to the same standards as a qualified attorney would be judged by, and be opposed by an experienced, professional prosecutor on the other side, intent on defeating your claims.

Sound daunting? Yep. Even for good counsel.

If you decide to seriously pursue this and hire experienced counsel, feel free to contact me to discuss terms for case review.

The Court of Appeal will set a due date once the record has been filed. Some records are filed more quickly than others, so it's hard to know when that will happen in any given case. The appellant or his/her lawyer will need a copy of the record in order to prepare the brief, so setting a deadline before the record has been filed would be unfair.

The state appoints appellate lawyers to represent criminal appellants who can't afford counsel of their own. Those lawyers are generally quite good at what they do. Those who can afford to hire their own lawyer should do so. Non-lawyers should not even think about representing themselves in a criminal case, whether in the trial court or on appeal. Those who are determined to do so should at least hire an appellate lawyer to help guide them through the process.

Feel free to contact me directly if you'd like to discuss your situation in more detail. I have over 20 years of appellate experience, and am certified as an appellate specialist by the State Bar of California's Board of Legal Specialization.

Good luck.