Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: strong arm robbery appeal

Unfortunately, the fact that your brother might have been depressed and/or suicidal isn't much of a defense to armed robbery charges.

As attorney Hoffman said, usually you can't appeal a guilty plea. You can often file a motion to have the plea set aside, in which case your brother would still have to go to trial on the robbery charges and if he does, he risks receiving a harsher prison sentence than what he was given. On the other hand, if he goes to trial and is convicted, he then has the right to file appeals and writs of habeas corpus after his conviction, these are valuable rights that people give up when they plead guilty.

Determining whether or not filing a motion to set aside the plea agreement would be a good idea involves having another attorney conduct a review of the case file, and probably an interview with your brother.

Re: strong arm robbery appeal

There is a standard notice of appeal form, which needs to be filed before time runs out. That's the easy part. The hard part -- briefing and arguing the appeal -- comes later.

A defendant who pleads guilty waived many of his rights in the appellate court. If the court failed to ensure that he understood the rights he was giving up, he can appeal on that basis. The same is true if the court did not make sure the plea was voluntary. If the defendant pleads guilty after losing a motion to exclude evidence, he can appeal the denial of that motion. He can also appeal decisions made after the plea if they are inconsistent with the plea bargain. Those are essentially all the arguments available in most guilty-plea appeals.

Sometimes the sentencing judge will agree that another issue in the case is worthy of appellate review. The judge can issue a certificate of probable cause, which would authorize the defendant to appeal whatever issues the judge identifies in the certificate. Getting this certificate can take time, however, and it must be done *before* the time to appeal runs out.

Another option your brother may want to use -- along with or instead of an appeal -- is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas petitions are the way to go when presenting an argument based upon facts which are outside the records of the trial court. In many instances, arguments based upon ineffective assistance of counsel and/or mental illness are more appropriate for a habeas petition than for a direct appeal.

Please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss this further. I am a certified appellate specialist (per the State Bar's board of legal specialization) with a great deal of experience in these areas.