When Should You Consider an Appeal?

You should consider a criminal appeal if you believe legal errors occurred during your trial. If these mistakes significantly affected your trial’s outcome, you may be eligible to have your conviction overturned or have a new trial ordered in your case.

Possible examples of errors that can provide the legal basis for an appeal include

• The trial court wrongly denied a motion to suppress evidence or a statement that was unlawfully obtained
• The trial judge made an error in an evidentiary ruling by misapplying the Federal Rules of Evidence or the Texas Rules of Evidence
• The trial judge gave improper jury instructions
• There were errors in the jury selection process, such as excluding jurors based on their race
• Juror misconduct occurred during your case, such as jurors accessing prohibited information or communicating with others outside the jury about your case
• The prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence that supported your version of events
• The underlying criminal statute is unconstitutional