Criminal Appeals

An appeal is very different from a trial because all an appeal focuses on is whether the trial judge made any legal mistakes. Since all the Supreme Court will consider is if the judge made mistakes at the trial, no new evidence can come in on the appeal and no witnesses testify. Instead, based on the transcript, we look at George J. West and Associates diligently search for where the judge made mistakes on the law. For example, judges have to rule on objections that the lawyers make, they have to give legal rulings on motions, and they decide how to instruct the jury at the end of the trial. If the judge was wrong on objections or motions, or did not tell the jury the correct law, and if these mistakes might have made a difference in the jury’s verdict, we argue that you should get a new trial. Because the Supreme Court only looks at whether the judge made mistakes on legal rulings, we argue that you should get a new trial.

What follows is the process in brief of an appeal in the RI Supreme Court:

1. The transcript is typed by the stenographer and filed in the Supreme Court, the stenographer notifies the Superior Court when the transcript has been completed, and the Superior Court sends the court papers in your case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court “dockets” the appeal, giving it a new case number and opening a new appeal file.
2. If you were sentenced to less than 20 years to serve (that is, actual imprisonment not including any suspended time), the appeal must go through a prebriefing process as follows:
1. Within 20 days after the appeal is docketed, we must file in the Supreme Court a “prebriefing statement”. That statement, written and researched by your appellate attorney, is a written summary of the case, limited to no more than 10 pages, telling the Court what the issues on appeal might be. In order to write that statement, we first read the transcripts looking for possible legal mistakes by the judge. These will be the “issues on appeal”. After we file our statement, the state files a response.
2. After both statements are filed with the Court, one of the five Supreme Court justices will hold a chambers conference on your case. The Court can decide not to hold a prebriefing conference. But, usually, we do have a prebriefing conference. Your appellate attorney and the state’s attorney will be at the conference. The judge will make a preliminary recommendation about what should happen. The judge can recommend to the rest of the justices that you win quickly or that you lose quickly. If the conference judge feels that the legal issues raised in the case are not complicated, or the case involves very few issues, or is based on a fairly short proceeding in the trial court, the judge will issue an order against both parties to show cause why the appeal should not be decided summarily – i.e., without long briefs. This is called a “summary process” order. In any of these situations, each side may have the opportunity, if necessary, to file supplemental memoranda.
3. If the case is complicated and needs further study, the court will order that defendants and the State write longer “full briefs” on the legal issues. An oral argument before the justices is sometimes scheduled. Ultimately, the result of the appeal is determined by agreement of all five justices of the Supreme Court and a written order or opinion is issued.
4. The conference judge can decide that, in his or her view, supplemental memoranda and even oral argument are not necessary. In that event, the judge can simply refer the appeal to the full Court to be decided in conference without filing of memoranda and without oral argument.
3. If you were sentenced to 20 years actual imprisonment or more (or if the judge at the prebriefing conference orders it), you are automatically entitled to file “full briefs”. We always exercise this entitlement for clients who are eligible for it.