Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: innocent convicted

You are going to have to continue to push his appeal.

In order to have a good chance at winning an appeal we are going to have to find some new evidence that was not presented at his trial. Even better, some evidenc, any evidence, that was not know at the time of trial.

We are going to have to order the trial transcript and find a way any way to show the government that our citizen did not get a fair trial. A fair trial that included all of the evidence, the exculpatory as well as the incriminating.

That is your best chance to win an appeal for a new trial. Then once we get a new trial, we need to get a really good trial attorney. True, any attorney can go to trial. However, very few attorneys, especially criminal defense attorneys, know how to win a trial. Anyone can go through the motions, but the difference between a surgeon and a coroner is one is paid to win and the other is paid to work with those who lost.

Re: innocent convicted

The law turns on the facts. And without any of the facts it is very difficult to advise you. Unfortunately a one on one case, and who do you believe, hinges on whom the jury likes (assuming of course there was a jury trial). So I'd go over the evidence and reinvestigating the case. To see if I could find any new evidence (facts). This doesn't take an attorney. There have been recent cases in which students in journalism classes has gotten new evidence (facts) to present to the trial or appellate courts. If the children that were involved testified. Ther testimony would have to be looked at very carefully. And re-interview them (if that is possible) to find out if their testimony was in any way contaminated by the investigators originally on the case. On a personal note a nine year sentence is very severe. And for that long a sentence there may have been priors. You may want to look at your reluctance to accept the reality that he may be guilty. Attending some counseling might be a good place for you to start. There are also legal possibilites of attempting to take a Federal appeal, and/or seeking review by the California Supreme Court.