Can I Still Appeal My Conviction?
Can I appeal my conviction in Oklahoma if the time I have to do so has already passed? Hi, I’m Oklahoma City Attorney Aaron Easton, and that’s the question we have for us today. And really what that question is, is does a defendant have the right to make an appeal out of time? It’s a phrase that’s used in the courts.
The answer to that is the courts and Oklahoma statute have set aside criteria which would allow a defendant to appeal their conviction out of time. You can find that under the rules of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, which can be found in Oklahoma statutes title 22, and it’s rule 2.1 parens E, and also in Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals decision referred to as Blades v. State.
The criteria, the test that you have to meet, is where a defendant’s right to appeal is denied through no fault of his own, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals may grant an appeal out of time. In that case, you would file an application for an appeal out of time to the district court in which your conviction was handed down, and you ask that district court to suggest to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to take your appeal out of time.
How to Appeal Out of Time
The district attorney would plea to the district court why you’re late for your appeal, why it was not a fault of your own, and typically that would be a fault of the trial counsel. You would ask the court to conduct an evidentiary hearing for you to give the opportunity to show that you’re missing the statute of limitations on your appeal through no fault of your own.
The district court can either recommend to the Court of Criminal Appeals to take your appeal out of time or recommend that they don’t take it out of time. If they do recommend that the Court of Criminal Appeals take your case, the Court of Criminal Appeals will look at it and make the ultimate decision whether or not they’re going to allow you as a defendant to appeal your case out of time.
Contact an Attorney for a Initial Consultation
If you think you’re in the situation where you would like to appeal on a conviction, but your time to do so has passed, you’re going to want to speak to an attorney privately and confidentially about the specifics of your case. To do so with an attorney at my office, you can contact us by phone at 405-888-5400 or online at postconviction.lawyer.