The Criminal Appellate Process
Our office represents people post-conviction who were charged with felonies in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
In order to have a case reviewed by the Court of Appeal, the client (or his/her attorney) must file a notice of appeal within 60 days after sentencing. A form notice of appeal should be mailed to the court where the defendant was sentenced, with enough time to be filed by the due date.
Case information can be found by name or a case number on an electronic docket on the Court of Appeal's website. The docket is an up-to-date listing of all of the action on the case.
Information sheet, “UNDERSTANDING YOUR APPEAL,” which provides a general overview of criminal appeals in the Second District is available here.
Notices of Appeal After a Criminal Conviction
As noted above, to start an appeal, a Notice of Appeal must be filed within 60 days of sentencing. It may be filed by the defendant or the defendant's attorney.
If the 60 day deadline for filing a notice of appeal has passed, and you have a good reason for not filing or if your attorney did not file one for you, in a very limited number of circumstances, we may still be able to help you initiate an appeal. Please contact our office or email Attorney Ann Krausz (ann@lacap.com) for further information.
Federal Criminal Writs for Inmates in State Custody
If a conviction is affirmed and the California Supreme Court has denied the inmate's Petition for Review, the inmate has 90 days in which to file a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. This can be done by an attorney or by an inmate in pro per. A packet of information explaining the process is available on the website of the United States Supreme Court. The packet includes specifics for inmates proceedings without attorneys and in forma pauperis (without the funds to pursue the normal costs of criminal defense). It is not necessary to file a writ in the United States Supreme Court in order to move on to federal court.
Thereafter, whether or not the inmate files a writ in the United States Supreme Court, the inmate has one year after the deadline for filing the writ of certiorari (thus 90 days + one year) to file a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, raising the issues already exhausted in the state court. This can be done by an attorney or by an inmate in pro per. We suggest you discuss how to proceed to federal court with your appellate attorney. The Central District provides a packet of information providing necessary forms and explaining how to file such a writ.
If the defendant raised a Fourth Amendment challenge on appeal, that issue cannot be litigated in the federal circuit courts so filing a timely writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court is the only option.