Winning A Military Appeal

Our firm has decades of combined experience as military appeal lawyers. We have the secrets on the best approach to winning a military appeal. Military appeals are the last chance for most individuals to have their cases overturned and their rights restored. The key to winning a military appeal is hard work, extensive legal knowledge in military law, and exceptional legal writing.

In a new series of blog posts, we are going to discuss the ways our clients have had their names cleared through the military appeal process.

Court-Martial Conviction Overturned On Appeal

Earlier this month, we received news that prior client’s case was overturned on appeal. This client values their privacy, so we will remain generic to avoid further publicity and embarrassment for the client.

Our client was an officer that hired us before their court-martial. The basic allegation was that this officer had been caught drinking alcohol on duty. They had some strong evidence supporting the facts, to include empty wine bottles, strange behavior, and what they said was a strong odor of alcohol. This client knew their rights and did not cooperate or give consent in the investigation that began.

Other officers and commanders overstepped their bounds repeatedly. They searched the client’s car without consent, they sent the client to the hospital, and then they convinced a civilian nurse to non-consensually use a catheter to obtain urine from the client. That urine returned a test result reflecting cocaine in the officer’s system.

We had several multiple-day pretrial hearings arguing that the military judge should exclude the evidence against our client due to the violation of their rights. The judge ruled against us and allowed the trial to continue. The client was convicted because the evidence that the judge allowed in overwhelmingly proved guilt. The client was very happy with our efforts, but very disappointed that the judge did not enforce her rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In almost every court-martial that ends in a conviction, the case went to the appellate court. The appellate court reviewed the entire trial record, including all of the arguments that were made about the unreasonable search. After nearly two years, the appellate court determined that the search and seizure of our client’s urine was unconstitutional and they have overturned the conviction that resulted from that illegal search.

Our client now stands to receive approximately $100,000 in back pay and be restored to an Active Duty officer in the military.

Winning A Military Appeal Starts At Trial

We get many calls from individuals in jail looking for representation on appeal. We are always happy to take these appeal cases, and we have had a great deal of success on appeals cases despite not having represented the client at trial. However, appeals are infinitely harder when the defense attorneys at trial didn’t do everything they could to ensure the rights of the client.

The appellate court in the case addressed above was convinced, in large part, because of the tremendous amounts of evidence and legal argument that was made AT TRIAL about the violation of the client’s constitutional rights. It’s impossible to know exactly how they would have decided the case if we hadn’t done so much, but the court certainly made it sound like that was the differentiating factor in their decision.

This is all to say, if you’re going to spend money on a lawyer, it’s best to do so for the trial! Too often, clients from jail report that they didn’t think they needed a civilian attorney for their trial, or they had found a civilian attorney that was “much cheaper” than the other civilian counsel. It breaks our heart to hear these clients tell us that if they could do it all over again, they would have had us at trial.

Why A Great Lawyer Makes A Difference

No lawyer wins every case — at least not in the context that every case ends in an acquittal. Here is a quick list of the difference a great lawyer makes:

• The rate of acquittals is higher amongst lawyers that are rated higher;
• A higher rate of clients are satisfied with their attorneys even if they were convicted if they believe their attorneys did everything they could at trial;
• The rate of successful appeals is significantly greater where the trial attorneys raised every legal issue.

The way you judge the quality of a lawyer is different for every client. Generally, great attorneys are outstanding story tellers and can catch the attention and interest of even then most disinterested individual. Great lawyers also know the law and every angle of the law. Finally, great attorneys have been in business for years and have excellent reviews to back up their claims of excellence.

For more information on Winning A Military Appeal, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (202) 900-9488 today.