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Criminal Appeals in Edmonton | Appellate Lawyers | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey

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Criminal Appeals in Edmonton | Appellate Lawyers | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey lawyers@pringlelaw.ca(780) 424-8866MenuHome Our Lawyers Alexander Pringle, Q.C. (1947-2015) Dan Chivers Michael D. Sparks Kent J. Teskey, Q.C. Lindsay Tate Nicole J. Stewart Evan McIntyre Curtis Steeves Laura Matalas Stephen Brophy Vita Wensel (Student at Law) Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & Technology Crime Theft, Fraud & Financial Crime Firearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Info Articles What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak with You Sentencing & Sentencing Options For Students Alexander D. Pringle Memorial Scholarship Articling Student Program Areas We Serve Edmonton Camrose Central Alberta Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande PrairieUpperPrairie Hinton Leduc Lloydminster Northern Alberta Peace River Red Deer Sherwood Park Southern Alberta St. Albert St. Paul Stony Plain Vermilion Wetaskiwin Fees Contact Criminal Appeals In Canadian criminal law, you have the right to appeal: A finding of guilt (this is known as a “conviction appeal”); The sentence you received (called a “sentence appeal”); andUnrepealableother kinds of orders that might be made versus you in criminal proceedings. An request is a hearing surpassing a variegated magistrate than the magistrate that found you guilty or sentenced you. Appeals take place in a higher level of court, known as an “appellate court.” In some circumstances, the appellate magistrate can overturn or transpiration the lower court’s decision. If you believe you were wrongfully convicted, if you think the sentence you received was unfair, or if you disagree with some other kind of order that was made versus you, you have the option of launching an appeal. Criminal appeals are very complicated. Good criminal appellate lawyers require a deep understanding of the nuances of criminal law, ramble law, criminal procedure, trial procedure, and the law of evidence. There are moreover many special rules that wield only to appeals. The lawyers at Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey understand that a successful request requires meticulous preparation, strong legal research, and a shielding review of the facts of your case. Our firm has wide-stretching wits conducting both conviction and sentence appeals at all levels of magistrate in Alberta, as well as the SupremeMagistrateof Canada. We would be happy to speak with you well-nigh the possibility of an appeal. Please undeniability our office at (780) 424-8866 or fill out our contact form and an socialize will be in touch. HOW ARE APPEALS DIFFERENT FROM A TRIAL (OR A SENTENCING HEARING)? Appeals are very variegated from a trial or a sentencing hearing. An request is not a “new trial,” or a second endangerment to ask for a increasingly lenient sentence in front of a variegated judge. Instead, an request is increasingly like a review of what happened in the lower court. In general, an request is heard based on the “record” that was surpassing the lower court. This ways that request magistrate judges read the transcripts of what was said in the lower court, but no witnesses are tabbed or questioned by lawyers. In unrepealable circumstances, the request magistrate can consider “fresh evidence” (new information or vestige that was not surpassing the lower court). But for the most part, an request is a shielding viewing of what was said and washed-up in the trial court, not a repeat of the trial or sentencing arguments. The word deference is often used when lawyers and judges talk well-nigh appeals. Appellate courts show deference towards the decisions of lower courts. This ways that they show respect to the lower court’s decisions – plane if the request magistrate thinks they might have reached a variegated visualization than the trial judge. A lower magistrate is not automatically “wrong” just considering a variegated judge might have reached a variegated decision. For this reason, it is not unbearable to simply oppose that the trial magistrate reached the wrong decision. IF I WAS FOUND GUILTY AT TRIAL, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REASONS I COULD WIN AN APPEAL OF MY CONVICTION? If you were found guilty without a trial, some worldwide examples of reasons you might win a conviction request include: An unreasonable verdict: If no reasonable judge who properly unromantic the law could have found you guilty based on the vestige that was heard at your trial, the request magistrate could order a new trial, or plane overturn the verdict and declare you not guilty. Legal errors: If the trial judge made a mistake well-nigh the law, and if this mistake was important unbearable that it could have unauthentic the outcome of the case, the request magistrate could overturn your conviction. For example, if your treatise at trial was self defence but the trial judge misunderstood or misstated the law of self defence, you could win the appeal. Errors whereas evidence: If the trial judge made a mistake well-nigh the rules of vestige (for example, by letting the prosecutor ask unrepealable kinds of improper questions), an request magistrate might decide that the trial was unfair and order a new trial. Or if your trial lawyer argued that some vestige versus you should be excluded considering your ramble rights were violated, but the trial judge made legal errors when deciding versus you, this could be unbearable to win an appeal. Errors in the jury instructions: If you had a jury trial, and the judge made mistakes instructing the jury, an request magistrate could order a new trial. Misunderstanding the evidence: If the trial judge makes an important mistake well-nigh the vestige that was heard at the trial, this kind of misunderstanding (or “misapprehension”) could rationalization the request magistrate to overturn your conviction. Insufficient reasons: Trial judges have a duty to requite reasons that explain the visualization to the parties. The reasons must be detailed unbearable that an appellate magistrate can review their visualization to see if they made any errors. If a trial judge’s reasons are too unenduring or vague, the request magistrate may order a new trial. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REASONS I COULD WIN A SENTENCE APPEAL? Judges are required to consider a number of variegated factors when they pass sentence on someone. The Criminal Code makes “proportionality” the most important thing a judge needs to consider when imposing a sentence. A sentence must be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence, as well as the degree of responsibility of the offender. A sentence that is unmistakably untempered is unfit, and may be reverted by the request court. Sentencing in Canada is not based on a mathematical formula. Judges have unconfined discretion when deciding what sentence should be imposed, and request courts show sentencing judges a very upper level of deference. You will not win a sentence request just considering an request judge might have given you a increasingly lenient sentence if they had been the sentencing judge. Having said that, sentencing judges do not have well-constructed self-rule to impose any sentence they wish. An request magistrate can transpiration the sentence a person receives in some situations. For example: A “demonstrably unfit” sentence: A sentence that is unmistakably outside the range of sentences that similar offenders should receive in similar circumstances may be “demonstrably unfit,” and an request magistrate could transpiration the sentence. Improperly accent on a factor: If the trial judge has over-emphasized or under-emphasized the importance of one of the relevant circumstances a judge must consider when passing sentence, an request magistrate could transpiration the sentence. For example, if the sentencing judge did not consider the importance of rehabilitation for a youthful, first-time offender, the request magistrate could decide to reduce the sentence. Irrelevant considerations: If the sentencing judge relied on something that is legally irrelevant when passing sentence, the request magistrate could vary the sentence. Other legal errors or errors in principle: Sentencing judges are told to tideway the process of sentencing in a unrepealable way, and an error in principle well-nigh how they sentence someone, or a legal mistake well-nigh how a sentence should be imposed, can justify an request magistrate reducing the sentence. To determine whether you have a good endangerment of winning a sentence appeal, an request lawyer will need to review the information that was put surpassing a sentencing judge, the sentencing judge’s reasons, and decisions from request courts in other sentencing cases. Only then can your lawyer requite you an informed opinion well-nigh whether your sentence request is likely to succeed. WHAT WILL AN APPEAL LAWYER DO FOR ME? In most cases, there are four vital things an request lawyer does for a client. 1. The request lawyer usually takes superintendency of the procedural and clerical aspects of the appeal, including filing a Notice ofRequestand ordering transcripts of the trial (or sentencing). 2. The lawyer reviews your specimen to determine what arguments you might be worldly-wise to raise on an appeal. This involves reading the transcript from the trial magistrate or sentencing court, which can sometimes be hundreds or plane thousands of pages. It moreover involves wide-stretching legal research, such as reviewing legal textbooks to find legal issues and attempting to find other cases that support your appeal. It is often only without this wide-stretching review and research that a lawyer is worldly-wise to tell you whether you have a strong specimen on appeal, or whether you would be unlikely to win the request and should welsh it. 3. If you decide to proceed with the appeal, your lawyer prepares written treatise for the request magistrate to review in whop of the hearing. Again, this can be a detailed, time-consuming process of legal research and composition. Written arguments for request courts are often long and complex. Once the written arguments are complete, your lawyer will prepare a final reprinting and submit it to the request magistrate and the Crown lawyers, withal with any authorities or key documents that relate to your appeal. These written arguments are very important, considering request judges rely heavily on these written arguments to understand the case. 4. Finally, your lawyer appears in person surpassing the request magistrate and argues the case. The judges will ask your lawyer questions well-nigh any issues requiring remoter refinement or that the judges find particularly important. This gives your lawyer a endangerment to persuade the judges well-nigh the merits of your request in person. For many criminal cases, the value of time and research that goes into an request at matches, and sometimes exceeds, the value of work that will have gone into preparing for the trial. HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO LAUNCH AN APPEAL? There are very strict deadlines for filing appeals. You must file a reprinting of a Notice ofRequestin the towardly magistrate (and serve it on the Crown prosecutors’ office) within these time limits, or you may forever lose your right to appeal. For most criminal matters, you have only 30 days from when the lower magistrate made its visualization to file a Notice ofRequestand serve it on the Crown’s office. Deadlines can vary, however, so it is important that you get legal translating well-nigh when an request must be filed. IF I HAVE MISSED A FILING DEADLINE, IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO? You can ask an request judge for permission (“leave”) to file your Notice ofRequestafter the deadline has passed. The judge will consider a number of factors when deciding whether to requite you permission to file late. For example: How much time has passed since the request deadline (the sooner you file, the better), Whether you have a good reason for missing the deadline, Whether the wait has caused any unfairness to the prosecution, Whether you unquestionably decided to request within the request period (and just didn’t formally file the paperwork), Whether you told the Crown prosecutor you intended to request surpassing the deadline passed, and, Whether you have a endangerment of success if you are unliable to appeal. If at all possible, you do not want to miss the deadline to appeal. Asking for leave to request adds needless cost, complexity, and uncertainty to your appeal, plane if you are sooner given permission to file late. If you have missed your deadline to request but still want to appeal, you should move quickly. Missing the request deadline by a few days is obviously largest than missing it by weeks, and the longer you wait, the less likely it is that a judge will requite you permission to file your request late. WHICH COURT WILL HEAR MY APPEAL? The magistrate that hears your request will depend on two things: first, which magistrate that heard your trial (or guilty plea), and second, whether the charges were handled “summarily” or “by indictment.” In Alberta, appeals from matters that were handled in the ProvincialMagistratecan be heard either in the Court of Queen’s Bench or the Court of Appeal. If the Crown proceeded summarily, the request is heard by a single judge of theMagistrateof Queen’s Bench. If the Crown proceeded by indictment, the request is heard by three judges of theMagistrateof Appeal. All criminal matters that were heard in theMagistrateof Queen’s Bench of Alberta are appealed to three judges of theMagistrateof Appeal. I WON MY TRIAL (OR RECEIVED A GOOD SENTENCE), BUT NOW THE CROWN PROSECUTOR IS APPEALING. IS THIS ALLOWED? DO I NEED A LAWYER? There are some limits on the reasons why the Crown is unliable to request a decision, but the Crown does have a right to request in many cases. For example, the Crown can request an respite without trial if they think the trial judge has made a legal error, and can request versus a sentence if the Crown thinks it was inappropriately lenient. You will know that the Crown has decided to request considering you will be served with a Notice ofRequestthat has been prepared by the Crown lawyers. This Notice will summarize the reasons they are appealing. The Crown has the same deadlines to file and serve a Notice ofRequestas the accused. If the Crown does appeal, you should strongly consider finding a lawyer to help you with the appeal. You will be up versus highly experienced and knowledgeable Crown lawyers, who specialize in appeals. Without a lawyer on your side, you are at a significant disadvantage. IF I LOSE MY APPEAL, CAN I APPEAL TO AN EVEN HIGHER COURT? Appeals heard in theMagistrateof Queen’s Bench can be appealed to theMagistrateof Appeal, but only with the prior clearance of a judge of theMagistrateof Appeal. This permission is tabbed “leave to appeal.” Usually, theMagistrateofRequestjudge will grant leave to request only if your specimen raises an important legal issue, or if the lower request magistrate made a very well-spoken error. Appeals heard in theMagistrateofRequestcan be appealed further, to the SupremeMagistrateof Canada. In unrepealable cases, if one of the three judges on theMagistrateofRequest“dissents” (disagrees with the majority’s decision), you may have an will-less right to request to the SupremeMagistrateof Canada. In most cases, however, you need to receive leave to request from three judges of the Supreme Court, and typically, leave to request will only be granted when your specimen raises an important issue of law. I RECEIVED A JAIL SENTENCE. CAN I BE RELEASED, SO I DON’T HAVE TO SERVE MY SENTENCE BEFORE THE APPEAL IS HEARD? If a person has received a jail sentence, a judge of the request magistrate has the power to order that someone be released surpassing their request is heard. This is tabbed getting “bail pending appeal.”Ladlepending request can be very important, considering in many cases, an request could take several months surpassing it is heard, and a person’s request might not plane be heard until their sentence is complete. It may be harder to get ladle pending request than it was to get ladle surpassing your trial. Although you have a legal right to appeal, you are no longer presumed innocent in the vision of the law once you have been found guilty at trial. Nevertheless, ladle pending request is still a possibility. When deciding whether to grant you ladle pending appeal, a magistrate will consider: Whether your request seems “frivolous,” or whether it appears that you have an untrusty point on the appeal, The likelihood you will surrender into custody if your request is denied, and, Whether your detention is necessary in the public interest, taking into consideration things such as the risk you present to the public if released. If you have been found guilty of an offence and want to appeal, you might want to consult with a lawyer surpassing you are sentenced, to see if arrangements can be made for an using for ladle pending appeal. Contact Us (780) 424-8866lawyers@pringlelaw.ca Leave this Blank if are sentient Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & Technology Crime Theft, Fraud & Financial Crime Firearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey300-10150 100 Street NW Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0P6lawyers@pringlelaw.caUndeniabilityus 24/7: (780) 424-8866 Copyright © 2018 Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey | Disclaimer Menu /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */