Post-Conviction Relief

If you or a loved one is presently incarcerated in county jail or state prison, you believe that the conviction is wrongful, unconstitutional, or otherwise unjust, and you wish to have the conviction reversed, you should consider an appeal.   John Gross has gained substantial experience drafting felony appeals through working at the Washington Appellate Project.

There are different kinds of appeals in criminal cases.  There is a “direct appeal,” which can be filed in the Washington State Court of Appeals in felony cases.  With this type of appeal, arguments can be made that that the State violated a person’s constitutional rights when it convicted and/or sentenced a person in a criminal case.  Some of these constitutional rights include the right to have a lawyer, the right to effective assistance of counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to due process.  Constitutional challenges can be made to sentences if they were excessive or violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution.

There are numerous constitutional challenges that can be made regarding the way in which a criminal trial was conducted and they are often grounds for having the convictions reversed.  Constitutional arguments can always be raised for the first time in a direct appeal.  In a direct appeal, the court is limited to basing its decision on what is contained in the trial transcripts.  That is why it is important for a criminal trial lawyer to make a clear record during the trial so that certain issues may be argued in an appeal later.  In misdemeanor cases, convictions are appealed in Superior Court in the county in which the person was convicted.  These appeals are called RALJ appeals.

There are other types of appeals called “collateral appeals”.  In these types of appeals, facts, exhibits, and evidence that are not contained in the trial record can be introduced and arguments can be made that were not raised at trial.  In Federal Court, these appeals are called petitions for writ of habeas corpus.  The state equivalent of this type of post-conviction relief in Washington is a personal restraint petition (PRP).

If a criminal conviction is upheld after filing an appeal in the Washington State Court of Appeals, a petition for review in the Washington Supreme Court can be filed.  While defendants have a guaranteed right to have their convictions reviewed in the Court of Appeals, there is no guaranteed right to such review in the Washington Supreme Court.  The State Supreme Court selects only a few cases for review that involve significant legal questions.  After a person has exhausted their state remedies, the may petition for a writ of certiorari to have their case heard in the U.S. Supreme Court.  As with the Washington Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court only selects a small percentage of numerous petitions.