Criminal Appeal Process

In the U.S. judicial system, a defendant found guilty in a trial court can normally appeal to a higher federal court. These federal courts, or appellate courts, review decisions made by trial courts (Neubauer, 2010). Appellate courts can be on the federal and state level, but do not hold trials or hear new evidence. These courts consist of a judge, or a lawyer, or a group of either one, who read the transcript of the trial and whether the previous decision correctly or incorrectly followed the law (Neubauer, 2010). Similar to trial courts, the federal government and most states have made two different types of appellate courts: intermediate, which hear all cases, and supreme courts, which can pick and choose the cases heard (Neubauer, 2010). Even though there are many different types of courts within the judicial system of the United States, the role of the judge stays constant throughout the majority of branches.

    The state intermediate courts hear appeals from the trial court (Goldman and Cheeseman 10). These courts review the record from the trial court to determine errors that can ultimately modify or reverse the decision in a case. The highest state courts (commonly known as

U.S Courts of appeal do not decide “guilt”or“fault”, listen to witnesses, do not have a jury, and do not attempt to “find out the facts. They do however, see if there were legal issues made and review the courts records. They also listen to both lawyers working on the case. All states have supreme courts, although only 39 have intermediate appellate courts”. (Schmalleger,2009)

Who are the parties to the appeal and what is each of their roles in the appeal (e.g. Appellant, Respondent, Intervener, etc.)? What category of law does the case fall into and how do you know that?

Case 1 is an appeal to the conviction rendered by District Court Judge Bradley on

The next court appeal is the Victorian High Court. This is the next court higher than the supreme court and is the only court that can decide whether the decision is too harsh or not severe enough. Therefore the high court can change decisions made by the supreme court judge.

At some stages, some appeals courts may hear oral arguments from the attorneys or even a hearing with witnesses, but most of it is on paper. Each appeals court can refuse the appeal, send it back for retrial for verdict or sentence only, or back to the lower appeals court for rehearing. But once it's into appeal, the State can also appeal the appeals court rulings before anything else happens, and that makes it different from the trial where the State can't appeal a not guilty verdict.

There are 14 courts of appeal and two of them are located in Houston the 1st and 14th Courts, both having concurrent jurisdiction over the same counties cases are to be assigned on a random selection basis but may be moved in order to equalize the docket. Also the 6th and 12th courts in East Texas, appellate districts overlap in four counties Gregg, Rusk, Upshur, and Wood. The set up in the East Texas districts has been heavily criticized as being friendly to "forum shopping."

On petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States court of appeals for the fifth circuit

What did the appellate court rule? Did it agree with the trial court (affirm) or disagree (reverse)?

The criminal trial process is an interesting process that takes place in Courtrooms all across the United States and throughout the globe. This study intends to set out the various steps in the criminal trial process in the American justice system. A trial is described as a "legal forum for resolving individual disputes, and in the case of a criminal charge, it is a means for establishing whether an accused person is legally guilty of an offense. The trial process varies with respect to whether the matter at issue is civil in nature or criminal. In either case, a jury acts as a fact-finding body for the court in assessing information and evidence that is presented by the respective parties in a case. A judge presides over the court and addresses all the legal issues that arise during the trial. A judge also instructs the jury how to apply the facts to the laws that will govern in a given case." (3rd Judicial District, 2012)

The defendants in the district court decisions appealed directly to the Supreme Court, while those (a writ for the reexamination of an action of a lower court).

Secondly, once a legal error made by the trial court is found, we must determine if that mistake was material and that it would have changed the ultimate outcome of the trial. If we determine it was a material error, then, we must explain how the error would have affected the jury, the fact-finding process during the course of the entire trial, and therefore, ultimately the court’s decision.

Whenever an appellate court reverses a trial court decision, it instructs that court to rehear the case using the correct law and procedures. If the court sees that a “gross miscarriage of justice” is being done or that an error was obviously committed, they will usually overturn the trial court’s decision (Coffin, 85). In the vast majority of cases, the decision of a Court of Appeal is final. The state Supreme Court does not review the vast majority of cases – it steps in to resolve new or disputed questions of law. It is also the highest state appellate court for civil matters (supreme.courts.state

The State Supreme Court's jurisdiction also covers disputes where one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more is claimed for personal damages. It also hears appeals from lower courts or Supreme Court cases where a single judge has made the decision. In the situation where an appeal is made against a single judge's decision this is heard by the full bench of the Supreme Court. This usually means that three judges hear the appeal.