Dumfries Fraud Appeals

Fighting a fraud accusation is often a tiresome and intimidating process. In some cases, an accused person may need to appeal their case following a conviction. When considering filing an appeal, an accused individual should learn about the various parts of Dumfries fraud appeals. A knowledgeable fraud lawyer could examine the different factors of a person’s case and work to strategically appeal their case. If you were convicted of a fraud offense and would like to appeal your case, call an attorney today and schedule an appointment.

Likelihood of Appealing a Fraud Conviction Appeal

There are different kinds of appeals in Virginia. An appeal taken from the general district court for a misdemeanor conviction is automatic. A person has an absolute right to an appeal for any misdemeanor conviction in Virginia and when they appeal a misdemeanor conviction in Virginia, they generally get what is called a trial De Novo.

A De Novo appeal means essentially an appeal from the beginning which means that the circuit is going to hear their case as though the general district court case never happened and not everybody knows that they are convicted in the other court. In other words, they are not allowed to rely upon or think about the facts that they are convicted of in district court; they are just going to bring that person to trial.

If a person is convicted in a circuit court of fraud conviction that is a felony then they have the opportunity to appeal to the Virginia Court of Appeals. An appellate procedure from the circuit court is quite different.

When a person is appealing a case from circuit court, the convicted person must assign error to the proceedings below in circuit court which means they need to say that the judge in circuit court committed some kind of error when conducting or presiding over their trial for the fraud charge. Usually, this involves erroneous evidence that was admitted and shouldn’t have been admitted over objection. Sometimes it involves improper jury instructions which means when the judge advises the jury of the law in their case, or the judge got it wrong.

Without an assignment of error in an appeal’s case, a person can’t appeal so it is different than the misdemeanor appeal in circuit court.

Innocent People Charged with Fraud

Innocent people are charged with crimes every day, not just fraud, it happens all the time. That is why there are judges. That is also why there are lawyers to make sure that the person is charged within the criminal justice system that they have the right person and the right crime that they are charging with.

Role of a Fraud Appeals Lawyer in Dumfries

A Dumfries fraud appeals lawyer would usually manage the case from beginning to the end. An experienced attorney will ask, first, to look at a case to review whether or not there are appellate issues and they have to look at the transcript to the proceedings below and they need to look at every single bit of evidence, every single bit of testimony and look at all of all the objections made by the defense attorney at the trial level to see if the judge got it right or if the judge got it wrong, and if the judge got it wrong then they have an appellate issue.

The next question then becomes whether or not the error made by the court below is one that mattered enough to affect the outcome of the case. If not, then the Court of Appeals will likely call that harmless error which is usually a painful thing to hear about when they have an error. Once they have an assignment of error, then they have to write the appellate petition which goes to a panel of judges to determine whether they have enough information to go forward with the full appeal.

If so, then they write an appellate brief, the government responds with the brief of their own and they will have an oral argument in front of the panel of judges in front of Virginia Court of Appeals.

Contact an Attorney About the Process for Fraud Appeals in Dumfries

A person who is convicted for a fraud offense may benefit greatly from filing an appeal. When undertaking this process they should also attempt to learn as much as possible about Dumfries fraud appeals before filing. This may be accomplished by speaking with a proactive fraud lawyer. Call today and arrange for an appointment.