With 20 years of experience appealing California felony convictions, the Law Firm of Richard Glen Boire knows how important your appeal is, and we leave no stone unturned in our efforts to get your loved one home as quickly as possible. When you retain our office to appeal your felony conviction, here’s what you can expect.
Reviewing Everything that Happened at Your Trial
Once the Notice of Appeal has been filed, the begin the process of carefully reviewing all of the transcripts from your trial. The transcripts are verbatim recordings of everything that was said in court. It’s common for trial transcripts in a felony case to be anywhere from 1000 pages in length for a three or four day trial to over 100,000 pages in a longer trial or one with multiple counts and/or multiple defendants.
Our first step is to read every single page of the transcripts and prepare a detailed summary of all the evidence, all the objections and court rulings, all the jury instructions, and the imposition of sentence. This is a time consuming process, and one that requires meticulous organization and a sharp eye for detail.
Once we have a complete understanding of everything that happened in your case – from start to finish – we conduct our review for errors. Every possible mistake is identified, whether it involved an incorrect ruling by the judge, misconduct by the prosecutor, or ineffective assistance by your trial counsel.
Release on Appeal (Bail on Appeal)
We may be able to get you or your loved one home while the appeal is pending. Once we have completed our initial list of all the errors at the trial, we may be able to get your loved one released by applying for bail on appeal. The success of such a motion is dependent on many factors, but one major one is whether the Court of Appeal believes that we have identified an error that could result in a complete reversal of the conviction. If our review uncovers such an error, we’ll file a motion asking the court to release your family member from prison during the appeal.
Researching the Relevant Law & Ranking Errors
With our review of the trial transcripts completed, and a list of all the possible errors, we then get to work researching every single issue to determine whether it might be a winner on appeal. A “winner” is anything that might reverse your conviction (on one or more counts), shorten your sentence, or reduce your fines. This is a research intensive process that involves searching for legal cases (old and new) that will help us convince the court of appeal that a significant error of some sort occurred at your trial that requires reversal of your conviction(s) and or a reduction in your sentence. At the same time, we’re looking for any cases that might defeat our arguments, or which the Attorney General will likely argue in support of your conviction.
Preparing our Findings & Meeting with You
At the end of this process, we prepare a detailed report, cataloging all the potential issues ranked from those we believe are most likely to win on appeal to those that are sure losers. At this point, we meet with the client and/or family members to discuss our findings and to honestly assess the potential for winning in the court of appeal. In may ways, this is similar to meeting with your surgeon after he or she has reviewed X-rays, blood panels, and other medical data to discuss the patient’s prognosis and to develop a plan for surgery. In our case, we review the errors we have identified and provide a professional opinion as to whether those errors are potential winners in the court of appeal. Once we’ve agreed on those that should be presented to the court of appeal, we roll up our sleeves and begin the process of drafting the opening brief that will be filed in the court of appeal.
Preparing the Opening Brief
Writing an opening brief for filing in a California Court of Appeal or the state or federal Supreme Court is one of the most time and labor intensive things that any lawyer will ever do.
The brief details all the evidence introduced at your trial, and then argues that the errors we have identified require reversal of your conviction(s) or a reduction of your sentence. Each argument is meticulously organized so that it presents the court of appeal with a clear description of the error, cites and quotes directly from the transcripts of your trial, and provides legal support by citing and discussing relevant cases, statutes, and constitutional provisions and fundamental principles of fairness. There is no corner cutting, and no glossing over “stubborn facts.” It’s old-fashioned hard-core legal work, using the very latest electronic legal resources available.
The Attorney General then files a response brief, and we get the last word by way of a reply brief. After all this briefing, the court of appeal sets your case for decision.
With 20 years of experience, we believe that our law firm is your single best hope at reversing a felony conviction suffered in a California court. We appeal felony convictions suffered in all California counties. We leave no stone unturned.
Fees
All appellate representation begins with the Richard Glen Boire personally reviewing all the evidence from the trial court, and preparing a complete report on any issues that might be winners on appeal. This is then discussed with the client and a determination is made as to which issues should be argued in the court of appeal. All professional work is completed on a hourly fee basis, with rough estimates provided to the client whenever possible.
We have one goal, and only one goal: To get your loved one home as fast as possible.
Coverage
We handle felony appeals from all California courts. Do not worry if you don’t live near one of our offices, we can do everything necessary via email, telephone and/or video conferencing. Contact us today.
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216
F Street # 9 ▪ Davis, CA
95616