What Happens After The Post Conviction Motion Is Denied?
You have the right to appeal again to the appellate court, the denial of the trial judge’s rejection of your post conviction motion. If you believe the judge ruled in error and you’ve got case law to support it, you can have a very high chance of success in the appellate court because it’s not a question of differing opinions.
In trials, you have witnesses that say one thing and witnesses that say another thing and the jury has a right to choose who they want to believe. However, if there is a legal basis to challenge the integrity of a sentence and you have the case law on your side with no equivocation about that issue and it’s ruled against, you’re likely going to succeed on an appeal of that decision.
What Are The Time Limitations For Filing Post Conviction Motions?
The most crucial thing to keep in mind is the time limitations for filing post conviction motions. The motions to mitigate are very short, around 30 days. The post conviction motions that challenge the effectiveness of your counsel are two years from the last ruling on the case and that includes appellate rulings. It’s crucial to be aware of those time limits because when they expire, you’re pretty much out of luck with coming back and asking for a belated motion. They do occur occasionally but the circumstances have to be extreme for it to be granted. That would be the most important thing to remember.
How Often Are These Cases Successful For Clients?
The success rate is not high. In fact, appeals are a long shot and post conviction motions are probably an even longer shot. However, it can be done with the right lawyer. A good attorney can hone in on the issues much more effectively, argue them much more efficiently and get the relief that the client is seeking. Although you can’t put a percentage on it, but roughly 1 in 10 cases prevail.
Personal Experiences Or Examples Of Post Conviction Matters Handled By Attorney Randy Berman
There have been a number of post conviction cases that have come through the office of Randy Berman in the last couple of years. He’s had success getting people re-sentenced on previous convictions; on post conviction motions. An error that he continues to see and use in post conviction motions is the failure of the court or the attorney of the defendant, to ask for or receive a pre-sentence investigation report prior to the sentencing.
All first time offenders in Florida are entitled to have a pre-sentence investigation report done prior to their sentence. In that report, the Probation Department is charged with interviewing the defendant’s family members, the witnesses, the victims and the lawyers and getting everyone’s input about that person, and about the crime. Ultimately, that report makes a recommendation to the court as to what sentence they feel should be imposed.
It can be very helpful because it’s not adversarial at that point and the individual can be interviewed on a one-on-one basis. They will hopefully get to know the probation officer doing the report and explain the dilemma that caused them to commit the act and make it a little more personal. That report can be waived by the attorney but usually in these particular cases, where you may be getting reversals, there is no discussion about it on the record; so there isn’t a waiver. Without the waiver and without it being prepared, it is an error to sentence the person without it. Getting help from an experienced attorney is important in these cases. When re-sentencing is successful, you can get the sentence reduced, which is very beneficial.
There are all types of ways that you can get post conviction relief. Attorney Randy Berman is handling another case where the attorney did not do a very good job in doing an effective investigation on the case. He didn’t call experts that should have been called regarding blood alcohol and he didn’t use a reconstruction expert effectively to confront the State’s expert.
In such cases where the lawyer doesn’t do what he needs to in order to give someone a fair trial, those are circumstances that can result in relief on a post-conviction motion. A lot of them need to go back to the beginning and try the case again.
Contact an Experienced Attorney To Get A Favorable Outcome In A Post Conviction Motion or call the law offices of Randy Berman for a FREE Initial Consultation at (561) 866-5717 and get the information and legal answers you’re seeking.