My husband was convicted at trial.. Should we let the same lawyer appeal or an appeals attorney?

If you don't agree with his current attorney, hire a different attorney for the appeal. Hire one quickly, you must file a notice of appeal quite soon.

I express no opinion whether your analysis of the case and of the attorney's decisions and representation are correct or not. And it doesn't matter to your question. The first and most important thing is that the notice of appeal be filed on time. As I said in response to your other posting, the time for filing a notice of appeal depends on state law. Typically the notice must be filed soon after the entry of final judgment. A thirty-day deadline is typical, but I have seen jurisdictions with deadlines as short as ten days and as long as sixty days. I believe you other posting mentioned a ninety-day notice of appeal deadline. Better be certain about that. It seems unusually long. It is the duty of trial counsel to file a timely notice of appeal if the defendant requests one. The United States Supreme Court says so. That does not mean that only trial counsel can file the notice, only that trial counsel must do so if requested. Another attorney, typically the attorney who will handle the appeal, can certainly do it. The defendant can do it. But it must be done and it must be done within the time required by law. Failure to file a timely notice of appeal can result in permanent forfeiture of the right to appeal. But filing the notice of appeal is one thing, representation on appeal is another. The notice of appeal is typically a short document, perhaps even a standard court form. It takes minutes to prepare and file. The actual representation of a defendant on appeal is a major project typically requiring scores of hours (at least) of difficult work, and the appeal process in many states generally takes a year or more. Some trial attorneys also do appeal work, some do not. Some attorneys concentrate in appeal practice and prefer to do little or nothing else. It is often better to have new counsel come in at the appeal level, but this is a case-by-case decision that depends on many factors. There is no right or wrong answer. In your case, there is the complication that the defendant is unhappy with the performance of trial counsel. That is not unusual and sometimes it is justified. Simply for personal reasons that would suggest that it would be better to at least talk to other attorneys before making a decision. There is also the question of a conflict of interest if the defendant wants to challenge the manner in which trial counsel defended the case. Some jurisdictions permit this kind of a challenge on appeal. Others require, or at least prefer, that it be done in a separate proceeding such as a post-conviction petition or an application for habeas corpus, depending on state law. Regardless, if a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel is even a serious possibility, it makes sense to look for new counsel on appeal. Get recommendations and consult with potential appellate attorneys before you make a decision. Also talk candidly with the attorney who tried the case. You may find there was very good reason why the trial was defended the way it was. Whoever is to represent your husband on appeal, make certain that the notice of appeal is filed within the time required by your state law. Good luck.

Your current attorney has an obligation to file a notice of appeal but you may want to get a new attorney for the appeal itself if you feel the first attorney screwed up.

I agree with my esteemed colleague from Evanston, IL. If you read his answer closely, you will notice that he correctly tells you, three times in his cogent response, to be sure that a notice of appeal is properly filed within the time allowed, as dictated by the rules in the state where the case was heard. There is a great reason why he mentions this multiple times. With very little exception, if the filing deadline for filing an appeal is blown, even by a day, the court of appeals will lose jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. I am posting separately simply to highlight the importance of making sure a notice of appeal is timely filed, and to strongly suggest that you get a date / time stamped copy of the notice of appeal before the deadline to file to notice of appeal. You should also get a dated receipt for the payment of fees to file an appeal in your jurisdiction. Get copies of the date stamped notice of appeal, even if you hire counsel to represent your husband and he/she files the appeal. You cannot risk any possible mix up regarding preserving your rights to appeal. In the event you need to file a notice of appeal yourself, (while you decide on which attorney to use on appeal), many jurisdictions have a website with simple forms and instructions, including filing a notice of appeal, costs for doing so, and acceptable methods of payment from lawyers and non-lawyers. I suggest having a candid conversation with the trial attorney who was unsuccessful at the trial level. Nobody knows the case better than he does. Ask him about your husband's options at this point. Remember that your husband was entitled to a fair trial, not a perfect one. If your husband's attorney advised your husband not to testify, he will be able to explain the trial strategy. It appears as though the Knoxville Bar Association has a free lawyer referral service. That may be a good place to begin searching for an experienced appellate attorney who handles Tennessee criminal appeals. may also have attorneys licensed in TN, whom you can research, consult, and hire to handle your appeal. I wish you much luck and success during this trying time. I hope this helps.

Since your husband is honest and the trial evidence against him presumably less than air-tight, he may get off with a fairly light sentence. Just saying. If you've lost confidence in your lawyer get another one.

I concur with my colleagues regarding the importance of filing a timely notice of appeal. As to appellate representation, it appears from your email that you have lost confidence in your current lawyer. The attorney-client relationship is built on trust and understanding. If that trust no longer exists, you should give serious consideration to having new counsel handle the appeal. You should, however, try to have an amicable split with your current lawyer as your appellate counsel will be better able to represent you if trial counsel is cooperatIve.

It depends. If the attorney was appointed by the court to represent your husband, then yes, the trial lawyer would handle at least the direct appeal at the court of criminal appeals stage per Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 13. If the attorney was retained, then the representation contract would govern whether an appeal is part of the services included under the agreement between your husband and the attorney. Speak with an experienced appellate attorney in the area who can assist you further based on your circumstances. It is absolutely vital to perfect the appeal in a timely manner.

Lawyers reasonably disagree about whether or not a person should hire his or her trial attorney or an experienced appellate attorney to handle an appeal. Obviously, no attorney will know your husband’s case better at this point than his trial attorney, which is a strong reason to consider retaining his trial attorney on appeal. In contrast, however, hiring a new appellate attorney provides a fresh set of eyes to look over the case. Furthermore, appellate attorneys usually have much more experience handling appeals than trial attorneys do, which may be very important depending on the complexity of the issues involved. I personally believe that unless the trial was extremely long and complex, it is usually better to hire a new appellate attorney who has experience handling appeals, because appellate practice is a field of its own that calls upon a completely different set of legal skills than trial practice does. As noted, however, others reasonably disagree. One thing is for sure, though: if a person is unhappy with his trial attorney’s representation during the trial – as appears to be the case in your husband’s situation – it is almost certainly better to hire a new attorney to handle the appeal. There is no substitute for the trust between an attorney and his client, and if your husband’s trial attorney has lost your husband’s trust and confidence, then their attorney-client relationship has broken down. With regard to the notice of appeal, in Tennessee, a defendant is required to file a notice of appeal within thirty days from the entry of the order of sentence unless the defendant timely files a post-trial motion: (1) under Rule 29(c) for a judgment of acquittal; (2) under Rule 32(a) for a suspended sentence; (3) under Rule 32(f) for withdrawal of a plea of guilty; (4) under Rule 33(a) for a new trial; or (5) under Rule 34 for arrest of judgment. See Tenn. R. App. P. 4(c); State v. Dodson, 780 S.W.2d 778, 780 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1989). Additionally, while it is certainly the case that it’s extremely important to file a timely notice of appeal, in light of some of the answers from non-Tennessee attorneys, I should note that in Tennessee, the notice of appeal actually is NOT jurisdictional in criminal cases, and the Court of Criminal Appeals retains discretion to waive the notice of appeal time requirement “in the interest of justice.” See Tenn. R.App. P. 4(a) (“in all criminal cases the ‘notice of appeal’ document is not jurisdictional and the filing of such document may be waived in the interest of justice.”); State v. Woods, No. W2010-01301-CCA-R3CD, 2012 WL 134243, at *2 (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 13, 2012). For what it’s worth, I’ll further note that in Tennessee, ineffective assistance of counsel claims are supposed to made during post-conviction review, rather than in a direct appeal. See Kendricks v. State, 13 S.W.3d 401, 405 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1999) (“we have previously warned defendants and their counsel of the dangers of raising the issue of ineffective assistance of trial counsel on direct appeal because of the significant of amount of development and factfinding such an issue entails.”) I hope that this assists you in determining your next steps during this difficult time.