The appeal process can be crucial to those involved in the criminal justice system. Since the beginning of this country the justice system has been concerned with its error rate, or in other words the amount of people that were being wrongly accused and convicted. One way of dealing with this is allowing convicted criminals to appeal their convictions and have a higher court make sure that the lower court got it right. An appeal is not something exclusive to the criminal justice system but it is a little bit different in criminal matters. In civil cases, such as divorce, contract disputes, personal injury, etc… either party is allowed to appeal the decision, usually the losing party is the one that appeals but it is not limited to them. For example if a plaintiff were to win the suit but didn’t agree with the amount of damages awarded they could still appeal that decision. In the criminal system, however, the appeal is only available to the accused party. If the state losses the case and the court determines the person innocent then that is the end of the case.
Incentives to Appeal
In civil cases, appeals are often not pursued because of the time and money that must be dedicated to the process. In criminal cases, on the other hand, when the convicted has their liberty at stake they are usually very willing to try the appeals process, to at least keep hope alive. That however was not the case for Brian Mitchell, who was convicted for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart. Attorney’s for Mitchell announced recently that he will not be appealing his conviction and life sentence thus ending the legal work for Mitchell.
Provo Criminal Defense
The appeals process is often a very difficult road and does not have a high success rate, but it is usually an easy decision to make in some situations. The attorney’s at Provo Criminal Defense are well experienced in the appeals process and can help you in that process if it is necessary. If you have been convicted of a crime or are simply being charged with a crime, contact us today to find out what we can do for you.
