If illegally imprisoned, or if the client felt that the judge erred in presiding the case, the client can actually request a higher court to intervene and review the case again. Such is the one that will be discussed in this page: defining court appeals and habeas corpus. You’ll need a criminal defense lawyer if you want your case in Las Vegas to be appealed.
Habeas Corpus
Literally means “produce the body,” habeas corpus is a legal action that challenges the legitimacy of an individual’s imprisonment; it covers an individual’s detainment in a prison or other institution that never went into any legal process. The writ is a judicial mandate ordering a person (like prison warden or military personnel) or agency (any institution like mental wards) to submit the inmate (prisoner) in court for further investigation.
Known as the “Great Writ,” habeas corpus is a petition being filed in a court by a person who objects his, or another person’s, illegal detention and gives them the right to be freed or transferred in a more appropriate and/or proper facility. It has helped federal courts in USA to determine the legality used in detaining a person. However, on remarkable situations like a war, the writ is automatically suspended.
Court Appeals
Incredibly, once a decision regarding a certain case has been read, an individual can still question its authenticity to a much higher court. In most judicial systems, a trial court decision can be appealed in appeal courts while an appeal court decision can be appealed in a supreme court.
Petitioned mostly by the losing party, an appellant (the pursuer of the appeal) usually desires for the higher court (called the appellate court) to review, reverse and/or modify the decision of the appellee (the defender of the original decision). Classified into two, the losing party normally challenges the conviction itself but cannot, under the law, present any other evidence. If granted, the appellate court usually reviews the trial notes (transcripts) or whether the lower court followed the procedure and analyzed all the evidence.
1.) Appeal as of right is an appeal that the higher court must answer. In other words, this appeal calls for a rehearing;
2.) Discretionary appeal, on the other hand, is an appeal where the court is requested to review the case. It is, then, left in the appellate court to grant or deny the the appellant unlike on appeal as of right.
Contact a criminal defense attorney in Las Vegas and schedule a free legal counsel.