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What Kinds of Court Mistakes Can Be Appealed?

By Steven Rodriguez

As we noted in our November 3 post, courts do sometimes make mistakes. Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to appeal their conviction. Through the appellate process, a higher court — the Court of Appeals — reviews court proceedings and sentences. If a judicial error has been made, the Court of Appeals can correct the error by overturning the guilty verdict, ordering a new trial or modifying the sentence.  Some of the mistakes that can be corrected by an appeal include: Harsh sentences Faulty arrests Faulty search warrants Insufficient evidence Improper wiretaps Incorrectly applied laws Faulty jury instructions Removal of minority jurors Failure to identify informants Incompetent counsel Prosecutorial misconduct Unlike trial courts where criminal cases are originally heard, the Court of Appeals rules only on the trial record and oral arguments...continue to full post

Full post as published by LA Criminal Defense Blog on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).