The timeframe to appeal a sex crime conviction in the military varies depending on the processing time after the court martial. The important thing is to have an appellate counsel who knows those timelines and knows when those windows open. It is a slow process, so people are often waiting, in or out of confinement, for well over a year for the appeal process to wrap up. It’s really incumbent upon you to have an attorney who walks you through the process. You only get one chance to go through the military appeals process. If you miss that window, the window is closed. It is a good time to pick up the phone and start calling attorneys to try to make the decision of who you want to represent you all the way through to the end.
Who Are The Main Players Involved In The Court Martial Appeals Process?
The court martial appeals process really comes down to the attorneys for the appellant (the person who was convicted) and the attorneys for the appellee (the government). Unlike in a court martial, they are not usually fighting on their feet; they are fighting in writing. They are writing appeals briefs to the appellate courts. Each branch of service has their own appellate courts that take the first level of appeals. At those courts, there are senior officers. They are all judge advocates and have some degree of past litigation experience.
The appellate judges go through the lawyers’ briefs and the record of trial, and they make a decision based on their view of the facts and the law. After that ruling is reached, there are additional appeals channels. You can appeal back to that same court, asking them to look over it again, or you can go to the next higher court. These are civilians who are appointed by the President. An appointment to this court is an extremely prestigious position. It is basically the military Supreme Court. Beyond that, there are a few cases in the military that could make their way all the way to the Supreme Court, or you could try to transfer it from the military courts to the federal courts.
What Factors Would Lead To A Reversal Of A Court Martial Decision?
There are a tremendous number of ways in which an appeal from a military conviction in a military court martial can be overturned on appeal. We’ve had remarkable success with these types of victories. Not every case is the same and every case has to be assessed on its individual facts. The best way to start an appeal is by looking at the question of whether there were insufficient facts for the jury to have found you guilty. The appellate courts can look at the facts of your case and they can say the jury got it wrong. We’ve had cases overturned on that very ground.
There are a number of other ways that cases can be overturned and those are usually something that people would call a legal technicality, meaning the judge got something wrong or the prosecutors did something wrong. It could even be that your own defense counsel did something wrong in the way that they were representing you, such that the case was manifestly unjust. Oftentimes, you are looking at things like certain types of evidence that were allowed in and shouldn’t have been or you weren’t allowed to present certain evidence that you should have been allowed to present.
