Save the money and use it for all the fees he'll have to pay, when he gets out. If hubby were on the outside, would he gamble on anything with such terrible odds?

Save your money. You can sink thousands of dollars in attorney fees with a case you probably cannot possibly win.

If they found CP on the computers, they had all they needed for a conviction. If the search warrant was ruled invalid, then all the evidence they found when they raided your house will get tossed out, but that is a very slim chance indeed.

If your husband made any incriminating statements at all then that would make it less likely to get your case thrown out.

Your husband will be a level one offender, so the registry will not be lifetime and will not be a tremendous hindrance to you and your family.

I do admire your lawyer for telling you the truth. Some will just string you along and bleed you dry. It probably should tell you something that even your attorney says that prevailing on appeal is only a remote possibility.

He will not be in prison that long and he will be fine.

Appeals sound nice but they rarely are successful and are almost impossible in a CP case.

I just don't want to see you throw your hard earned money away.

rewdiazepam

As I'm sure you already know CP cases are a nightmare to defend and even if you were to win it's a hollow victory in many ways because the damage has already been done. Normally I'm all for putting on the strongest defense possible but since this is an appeal I think I'd pass on the appeal unless there are other potential avenues of attack that require an appeal be done first

My husbands court battle went on for six years from the time they filed the charges until he accepted the plea and was scentenced. I at one point I asked our attorney if we should file a speedy trial motion and was told that it would be a waste if money that even though we are told we have a right to a speedy trial that the motions are rarely won. He also told me that time is the best thing (it really was hell not knowing what would be the outcome...but glad we let it take it's course). I know with my husband he wanted it over with but again, I'm glad it took as long as it did.

Best of luck with everything

If he isn't on the Registry right now, a speedy trial isn't in his best interest. Chance that you husband is found innocent are slim it appears. So why no allow him the freedom without parole hangin over his head.
I suggest that you both look into LIVING WITH CHILDREN and get that part out of you way ASAP or they may no allow him to live with you.

We also opted not to appeal. I was pushing for it at the beginning but when we talked to his attorney she was honest with us about the chances. She said it would cost us about $25,000 and we would have to go through the whole nightmare of a trial again - this time with a new jury. Although there were inconsistencies in the testimony by the prosecution (our basis for appeal) she said this would just give the prosecution the chance to iron those out. Chances of us winning were slim and the chance of receiving an even LONGER prison term were high. (My boyfriend received the minimum plus one).
I'd say save the money.

I had a friend who received a 12 year sentence when he was originally convicted.

He won on appeal and the court remanded the case back to the original jurisdiction. They took him to trial.

The jury gave him 40 years on retrial.

I think I would take the three year sentence and feel fortunate that it was not longer. Three years is a relatively short sentence and will be over much faster than you realize.

rewdiazepam

Thank you everyone. I really think it would be throwing money away. I still haven't spoken to my husband about it (I keep missing his calls) but when I do I'm going to try to convince him to just let things be.

I let an attorney talk me into appealing after he pled guilty to 1 count of poss. No chance in heck to get an appeal, but I was so distraught, he took advantage of me. He has 3.5 years to go and he says it is passing fairly quickly.

alik, alik, alik,

It is not just the economics of this or the money you would spend on attorney's fees.

Trust me, you and your husband would be taking a almost insurmountable chance---and you would really be rolling the dice----even if you did get it overturned and they took you to trial.

If it is overturned, most likely the appellate court will remand this case back to its original jurisdiction.
Then you are basically starting all over.

If he then went back to trial on a CP charge in front of a jury, in my opinion, he would get more than three years. The DA would probably try to recharge him with all 18 counts instead of the one he pled to.

Eighteen counts in front of a jury on CP charges could be disastrous.

When he goes to trial, you can bet your bottom dollar that the DA will get those images / videos in front of a jury for them to see. When they see those images or videos, the emotionalism will take over and your husband will not stand a snowball's chance in hell. Those images will turn the jury against your husband so badly that they might really stick it to him.

A man in Arizona made the mistake of going to trial on a CP charge and the jury gave him 200 years----I think it was 10 years on each count, with 20 counts.

I saw guys in prison that tried this and it was not even a case the invokes so many emotions as CP. I mentioned one earlier and my cellmate had a buddy that was convicted of robbing four Pizza Huts, armed robbery. The first time he only received 15 years as they ran all four counts into one count---concurrently.

After Scott's case was overturned and remanded, they tried him on all four counts @ 20 years a count, so he wound up with 80 years instead of the original 15.

TAKE the good and reasonable deal you got in the first place. I don't want to see your husband and the father of your children spend years in prison and not be release until he is a very old man.

rewdiazepam

I hate taking a plea. Force them to show you the discovery first. LOOK at it. is it CP in your opinion or not. In some cases like my sons, they used family pictures of his nieces and called them CP just to get a conviction.
Sorry but...I dont trust lawyers. LOOK AT THEM YOURSELF before any decisions are made.
I've found that most attorney get discovery but few show them to their clients.

What if it were reversed and you were looking at many year already on a so-called plea bargain...first attorney set up my boyfriend. I know because he told me "These kind of guys need to be locked up". He made no real effort for a plea bargain and went in with an open plea. It was awful...Took it back for sentencing errors and got a few years knocked off but he still has a lengthy sentence. Is it worth the gamble to do another PCRA? His lawyer was running for magistrate unbeknown to my boyfriend until after everything was done. He didn't get that position but ran for state representative and won! Politics!!!

To me, it all boils down to this----the prosecution DID NOT get what they wanted the first time. This is very important to remember. Think about it.

It is too big a gamble to give the prosecution another bite at the apple. They threw everything at your husband and while they did get a conviction, they came up short of their expectations.

Don't give them another chance. Cut your losses and forget the appeal.

rewdiazepam

Rew, that is what I'm afraid of. The prosecutor was really annoyed that the judge gave him 3 years so much so that the judge actually yelled at him and told him if he wanted the man to get 5 years that's what the plea should have said. I don't want them to get a shot at screwing him over. He's going to turn 50 this year and I'm only 37, I don't want my husband to end up with a term that he will die in prison.

This is one of the reasons my hubby took a plea, after a hung jury trial. Not a CP thing, it was a false accusation. But after seeing how the DA was willing to twist and outright lie, and get away with it, he didn't want to take another chance.