Federal Criminal Appeal

2006-01-17T09:34:00.000-06:00

When a party loses his trial in a federal district court, he is normally entitled to appeal the decision to a federal court of appeals. In a criminal case, the defendant may appeal a guilty verdict, while the government may not appeal if the defendant is found not guilty. If a defendant is found guilty, either side may appeal the sentence that is imposed. The appellant, the party who files an appeal, must show that the district court made a legal error that affected the decision in the case, and he must do so without additional evidence or witnesses. In some situations, the factual findings of the district court may be reviewed.

An appeal is much different than a trial in the district court. The parties file their written legal arguments—their briefs—to a three-judge panel. The trial judge is not one of the three judges. The purpose of a brief is to persuade the panel to rule one way or another on the alleged error. While some cases are decided on the briefs alone, most cases are selected for oral argument, where the two parties are allotted a small amount of time—usually about 15 minutes—to make their argument to the court and answer any questions the court may have.

In most cases, the court of appeals decision will be last word on the case, though some cases are sent back to the district court for further proceedings, some are reviewed en banc, and some are granted a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States upon petition.

McNabb Associates has created this website to provide information on the appellate process and the manner in which we deal with federal criminal appeals.

To learn about U.S. criminal law within the domestic arena go to our Federal Crimes and Federal Crimes Blog sites.