Criminal Appeals

Arkansas and Federal 
Criminal Appeals

You’ve been convicted of a crime at trial. Regardless of whether you are guilty or not, you have a right to appeal your conviction(s) and/or sentence. An appeal is not a second chance to relitigate the facts of your case. Instead, the goal of a criminal appeal is usually a new trial altogether. An appeal is, however, a second chance to achieve a favorable resolution for your case. Appellate courts review only the technical aspects of your case to determine whether the trial judge followed the law in making his or her rulings. For example, whether the trial judge was correct in admitting or excluding a particular piece of evidence or testimony. Our attorneys have decades of experience handling and arguing criminal appeals in Arkansas state courts, federal courts, and even the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

If your appeal was unsuccessful or if you pleaded guilty, you may also file a petition alleging some other type of legal error such as ineffective assistance on the part of your attorney. Typically this involves alleging specific things that the attorney did/did not do, how that was deficient, and how that error prejudiced the outcome of your case. You do not have a right to an attorney for this type of appeal, and there are a series of complex procedural requirements that you must adhere to perfectly just to get your claims considered. Even then, the odds for this sort of postconviction petition are generally slim. Our attorneys have extensive experience at both the trial and appellate level in both Arkansas and federal courts with postconviction appeals.