Appeals
After sentencing, the case enters the post conviction phase. Usually the defendant begins serving the sentence immediately after the sentence is issued. The defendant may appeal the outcome of his trial to a higher court. American appellate courts do not retry the case. These courts only examine the record of the proceedings of the lower court to determine if errors were made that require a new trial, resentencing, or a complete dismissal of the charges. The prosecution may not appeal after an acquittal, although it may appeal under limited circumstances before the verdict is rendered. The prosecution may also appeal the sentence itself. Increasingly, there is also a recognition that collateral consequences of criminal charges may result from the sentence that are not explicitly part of the sentence itself.
Read more about this topic: United States Criminal Procedure
Famous quotes containing the word appeals:
“The War was decided in the first twenty days of fighting, and all that happened afterwards consisted in battles which, however formidable and devastating, were but desperate and vain appeals against the decision of Fate.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
“The beginning of human knowledge is through the senses, and the fiction writer begins where human perception begins. He appeals through the senses, and you cannot appeal to the senses with abstractions.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“We must select the Illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)