Families of SOs Community Group
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Hi everyone. Just a quick queston, if anyone knows. We live in FL. My brother is mailing in an appeal on his sentence. I know this requires a court date. My question is....at the appeal hearing fr a determination, will the alleged victim/family be notified ofthe hearing and/or be present?
I have never heard of the victim being notified in any appeal process, so the answer is "no." The appeal process is not a guilt or innocence proposition, rather it is to determine if the defendant received a fair trial and his rights were not violated according to rules of the court and the United States Constitution. There is absolutely no reason to include the alleged victim in any appeal process.
People sometimes do not understand appeals. An appeal court does not "retry the case" and "weigh the evidence" as in a retrial; they will rarely override a jury's decision. The appeal courts are only concerned with procedural matters; they are concerned about a fair trial under the laws and rules.
Wish you and your brother the best and hope this helps.
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The catch is that the violation has to be egregious enough for the appeals court to vacate the original judgment. The courts often rule that, while there were errors in the trial, they were not bad enough to overturn the conviction. They call this "harmless error."
This is one big disadvantage with a plea bargain. Taking a plea bargain greatly reduces a defendants chances at any appeal; in fact, the chance are less than slim that an appeal from a plea bargain would ever be successful.
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