Appeals & Post-Judgment Relief
Photo courtesy of Christopher Carrion
A conviction does not necessarily mean a case is over. Mistakes happen everyday. Police mishandle evidence. Witnesses change their story. Prosecutors make errors during trial. Any of these could mean the difference between serving jail time and having a case overturned on appeal.
At CLG, our attorneys know what to look for and have the experience crafting arguments for a successful appeal or post-judgment 440 motion. With access to a comprehensive law library, legal databases, and relationships with some of the finest legal minds in the field, no detail will be overlooked.
Appellate Courts
Appeals in New York State Courts are decided in one of the four Appellate Divisions, two Appellate Terms, and the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. For the most part, appeals to the appellate division and appellate term is a right conferred to all litigants and criminal defendants. However, appeals to the Court of Appeals are granted only by permission of the court, and the court does not agree to hear every case.
Federal appeals are heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the particular circuit your case is located in. In New York, all appeals from the federal district courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western districts are decided in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and in the United States Supreme Court. Like state court, appeals to the Second Circuit are a right conferred to all litigants and criminal defendants. Appeals to the United States Supreme Court are granted only by permission of the court and are extremely rare (the court typically hears around 80 cases per year out of over 3,000 requests).