Appeal from the Michigan Court of Appeals 

In the event the Michigan Court of Appeals affirms your conviction, you have a right to file an Application for Leave to Appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the State of Michigan. The Michigan Supreme Court will then consider your Application for Leave to Appeal if it is persuaded that the issues in your case warrant its consideration. Time requirements in the Michigan Supreme Court are most important. You must file within 56 days from the date of your Court of Appeals decision, otherwise you lose any right to file an Application in the Michigan Supreme Court. You should know that only those issues that you brought in the Michigan Court of Appeals can be raised in your Application for Leave to Appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Michael Skin​ner, Michigan Appeal Lawyer

Appeal from Recent Michigan Trial or Plea

You have a right to appeal if you have recently been convicted by trial in any Michigan state criminal court in Michigan. To preserve your right to appeal, you must do one of the following:

(1) You or your family may hire an attorney to represent you on appeal, who will file a claim of appeal in the Court of Appeals within 42
days of sentencing.

(2) If you are indigent, you may fill out the petitions given to you at your sentencing, and file them with the Court within 42 days of
sentencing.

If you fail to do (1) or (2) within the required 42 days and still wish to appeal your conviction or sentence, you can still appeal your felony conviction by hiring a lawyer and having him prepare and file a Delayed
Application for Leave to Appeal. This must be completed within one year of the date of your sentence in the Trial Court.

The primary goal in conducting most Appeals is to reverse your conviction and have the Appellate Court remand your case to the Trial
Court for a new trial or resentencing.

Our firm reviews all trial transcripts to identify all issues in an appeal for the purpose of reversing a conviction or obtaining sentencing relief. An issue can be anything that took place during the course of your case from arrest to sentencing that violated your constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial. Typical issues can be testimony which should have been disallowed by the Court, evidence that may have been admitted
contrary to case law and statute, conduct on the part of the prosecutor or trial judge that was prejudicial to you and contrary to the law, improper instructions given by the judge to the jury, illegally obtained evidence and/or
confession in violation of your Fourth or Fifth Amendment rights, and many other possible errors too numerous to list here.

After the issues are identified in your case, our firm researches these issues for the cases and statutes that would support a reversal of your conviction or change your sentence. When the research is completed, an Appellate Brief is filed at the Michigan Court of Appeals which
seeks reversal of a conviction, sentencing relief, or any other type of relief that is appropriate under the particular case.

Our firm is not a court-appointed appellate office. Our firm is a law office that can represent you, if you or your family contacts us and retains us anytime during your appeal process.

Remember, if you cannot hire a lawyer, you have a right to appointed appellate counsel by filing your petition in the trial court within
42 days of sentencing.

Motion for Relief from Judgment

If you do not have federal issues for a habeas corpus petition or you have missed deadlines for filing for habeas corpus, you may be able to file in the trial court a Motion for Relief from Judgment (also known as a "sixty-five hundred motion"). 

Any issues brought in a Motion for Relief from Judgment must not have been brought in the Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court in your previous briefs. There are a number of conditions that must be met in order to file a Motion for Relief from Judgment, pursuant to Michigan Court Rule chapter 6.500. The preparation of a Motion for Relief from Judgment is done by reviewing once again your entire court file, all of your trial transcripts, evidentiary hearings, motions, and your sentence. Any new issues -- that is, issues that have never been brought before -- will be researched and briefed. Once a brief is prepared, the Motion for Relief from Judgment is filed in the trial court where it will be heard and considered. In the event your Motion for Relief from Judgment is denied, my firm can appeal that denial to the Michigan Court of Appeals.