Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Re: Inadequate Reresentation

Once the conviction is final, the defendant has a couple of options. The first is called "direct appeal" and involves an appeal from the conviction. That appeal asks the Court of Appeals to review the entire trial process to make sure that the defendant got a fair trial. Ineffective assistance of trial counsel can be raised at this point, but often the record on direct appeal is not sufficient to support that claim. In that case, the defendant can do what is called a "post conviction petition" for relief on the grounds that the conviction was unconstitutionally obtained.

The law imposes very strict deadlines related to each of these processes. I normally recommend that the defendant hire an attorney to assist in the preparation of documents and to insure that the documents are filed on time.

If a term of imprisonment is imposed the defendant normally stays in jail during the appeal or the post conviction petition.