Appealing a Conviction and Seeking Post-Conviction Relief: A Practical Guide

Summary. File the notice, get the transcript, pick few strong issues, save ineffective assistance for collateral review, build the record in state court, and calculate every deadline in writing.

For the framework — sentencing law, standards of review, Strickland, Brady, habeas doctrine — see Sentencing, Appeals, and Post-Conviction Relief. This guide is what to do.

Four sentences that decide these cases:

File the notice of appeal. Fourteen days in federal court; thirty to sixty in most states. It is jurisdictional.
Ineffective assistance goes in collateral review, not the direct appeal.
Build the factual record in state post-conviction, because federal habeas generally will not develop it.
Calculate every deadline in writing, with dates, at the very beginning.

Week one: the notice of appeal

This is the single most important act after sentencing, and it takes fifteen minutes.

Federal: notice of appeal within 14 days of entry of judgment.
State: commonly 30 to 60 days, sometimes shorter.

If there is any doubt about whether to appeal, file it. An appeal can be dismissed voluntarily later; a missed deadline generally cannot be cured.

Who files it: trial counsel, whose obligation it usually is. Confirm in writing that it was filed, and get a stamped copy. If trial counsel says an appeal waiver forecloses it, understand that waivers have exceptions and that filing preserves the ability to litigate the waiver's scope.

If the deadline has passed: ask counsel immediately about relief for excusable neglect, or about a claim that counsel was ineffective in failing to file — a claim that has a favorable standard when a defendant asked for an appeal and none was filed.

Also in week one:

Request appointed appellate counsel if you cannot afford counsel. Ask the trial court.
Ask for the judgment and the docket sheet.
Ask trial counsel for the complete file. Do this in writing now; files get archived and lost.

Weeks two to eight: the record

An appeal is decided on the record, and the record must be created.

Order the transcripts. Not just the trial — the whole thing:

Arraignment and pretrial hearings
Suppression hearings
Jury selection (voir dire — frequently omitted, and frequently where the issue is)
Opening statements and closing arguments
All bench and sidebar conferences
The charge conference and the instructions as read
Any readback or question from the jury
The verdict
Sentencing, including the ruling on every objection

In indigent cases the transcript is provided at public expense, but it must be requested and the scope specified. A partial transcript is the most common cause of an issue that cannot be raised.

Assemble the rest of the record: the docket, all filings, exhibits, jury instructions given and refused, verdict forms, and the presentence report.

Then read it, all of it, with a pen. This is where issues are found — a ruling that seemed fine at trial reads differently in transcript, and the objection nobody remembers making turns out to be there.

Selecting the issues

Fewer is better. An appellate brief with three strong issues outperforms one with eleven. Judges read the strongest first and the presence of weak issues discredits the rest.

Run every candidate issue through four questions:

1. Was it preserved? An objection made and ruled on gets ordinary review. An issue not raised gets plain error, which is far harder. Search the transcript for the objection — it is often there in a form nobody remembers.

2. What is the standard of review? De novo questions of law are the best issues. Abuse of discretion is harder. Sufficiency of the evidence is nearly hopeless — the test asks whether any rational juror could have convicted, viewing everything favorably to the verdict — and it is the issue defendants most want raised.

3. Is it in the record? If proving it requires facts outside the transcript, it is not an appellate issue. It is a collateral one.

4. Would it change anything? Many errors are subject to harmless error review. An issue that would not have altered the outcome is a losing issue even if the error is clear.

The issues that actually win, in rough order: sentencing guideline calculation errors; jury instruction errors on preserved objections; evidentiary rulings that admitted something central; suppression rulings; and — occasionally — prosecutorial misconduct in closing.

And the issue that must NOT go on direct appeal: ineffective assistance of counsel. The record contains no evidence of counsel's reasons, the claim will lose, and in many jurisdictions losing it on direct appeal bars raising it in collateral review.

The brief and argument

Structure that works: a statement of the issues; a concise statement of the case with record citations for every fact; an argument that leads with the standard of review and then applies the law to the record; and a specific request for relief.

Cite the record obsessively. An assertion without a citation is treated as unsupported, and appellate judges verify.

Address the harmless error question affirmatively. Do not wait for the government to raise it; explain why the error mattered.

Oral argument, if granted, is short and is about answering questions. Prepare the three hardest questions, not the speech.

After the decision: if you lose, there may be discretionary review in the state's highest court (short deadline) and then a certiorari petition (90 days). Both are long shots and both must be timely. The end of direct review starts the federal habeas clock, so the date matters enormously.

Moving to collateral review

This is a new case, in a different posture, usually with a different lawyer, and frequently with no right to appointed counsel.

The first question is which claims survived. Claims raised and decided on direct appeal are barred as previously litigated. Claims that could have been raised and were not are barred as defaulted. What remains is what could not have been raised on the record:

Ineffective assistance of trial or appellate counsel
Newly discovered evidence
Suppressed exculpatory evidence
A guilty plea that was not knowing and voluntary
Certain jurisdictional and structural claims

And the second question is the deadline, which is different from the appellate deadline and different in every state. Find it, write it down, and calendar it before doing anything else.

Investigating an ineffective assistance claim

This is investigation, not argument, and it is what distinguishes a claim that wins from one that is dismissed.

Step 1: Get the trial file. Written request to trial counsel for the complete file — the client is entitled to it. It contains the discovery, the investigator's reports if any, correspondence, notes, and — critically — evidence of what counsel knew and when.

Step 2: Get the police file. A public records request for reports, notes, dispatch logs, evidence logs, lab bench notes, and witness statements. This is where Brady material surfaces, years later.

Step 3: Interview the witnesses nobody interviewed. The alibi witness, the neighbor, the co-worker. Get an affidavit stating what they know and, critically, that they were available and willing to testify at the time of trial and were never contacted.

Step 4: Obtain the records nobody obtained. Medical, mental health, school, employment, phone, and surveillance. Preservation is a constant problem — send preservation demands immediately.

Step 5: Consult the expert nobody consulted. If forensic evidence mattered, get a qualified review. If the defendant's mental health mattered, get an evaluation.

Step 6: Ask trial counsel. Many will explain their reasoning, and an explanation that reveals no strategic basis is powerful. Some will not, which is itself informative.

Then write the claim with specifics: what counsel failed to do, what it would have produced, and why the outcome would reasonably probably have been different. Attach everything.

Calculating the federal habeas deadline

More petitions are lost here than to any merits doctrine. Do this in writing.

When did the judgment become final? Generally when direct review concluded — including the 90 days for a certiorari petition if the state's highest court ruled, whether or not one was filed.
Count the days from finality until a state post-conviction petition was filed. That period runs against the year.
Tolling applies while a properly filed state post-conviction proceeding is pending — including the appeal within the state system if timely. A petition rejected as untimely was not "properly filed" and tolls nothing.
Count the days after state proceedings finally concluded. That period resumes running.
Add them. The total must be under 365.
Check the alternative start dates — a newly recognized retroactive right, or the date a factual predicate could have been discovered with due diligence.

Write this calculation into the file with dates. Equitable tolling exists but requires diligence plus an extraordinary circumstance and is rarely granted.

And note exhaustion: every claim must have been fairly presented to the state's highest court. A claim never presented there is unexhausted and generally barred.

What families can actually do

A great deal, and most of it does not require a lawyer.

Order and pay for transcripts if they are not provided.
Collect the trial file from counsel and organize it.
Send public records requests for the police file.
Locate witnesses and ask them to speak to an investigator or lawyer.
Gather records — school, medical, military, employment.
Write down the timeline of the case with dates, which post-conviction counsel will need immediately.
Keep the deadlines calendar.
Maintain the correspondence with the incarcerated person, who often knows facts nobody has asked about.

And be realistic together. Relief rates are low, the process takes years, and hope that is not calibrated does damage. The most useful posture is to work the specific claim methodically rather than to expect the system to notice an injustice on its own.

Finding counsel

On direct appeal, appointed counsel is generally available for indigent defendants. In collateral proceedings, usually not — which is the field's central unfairness.

Where to look:

State post-conviction defender offices, which exist in some states.
Law school clinics — post-conviction, innocence, and appellate clinics take cases and are free.
Innocence organizations, in nearly every state, for factual innocence claims with a testable basis.
Bar pro bono programs, some with dedicated post-conviction projects.
Private counsel experienced specifically in post-conviction work, which is a distinct specialty from trial defense.

What to put in the letter, because these organizations receive far more requests than they can accept: the conviction and sentence, the current posture and deadlines, and — most importantly — the specific reason to doubt the conviction, with names, dates, and documents. A letter that says "I am innocent" is screened out; one that says "the only eyewitness described a suspect six inches shorter, and that statement was never disclosed — here is the report" is not.

What an appeal can realistically accomplish

Setting expectations honestly at the beginning prevents a great deal of damage, and families are almost never given a realistic picture.

What appellate courts can do: affirm; reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial; reverse and order an acquittal (rare, essentially only on sufficiency); vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing (the most common form of relief); or remand for further proceedings on a discrete question.

What they will not do: reweigh the evidence, reassess witness credibility, or substitute their view of the facts for the jury's. Every one of those is what a defendant most wants, and none is available.

The realistic outcomes, in rough order of frequency:

Affirmance. The most common result by a wide margin.
Sentencing relief — a guidelines error corrected, and resentencing. Often a meaningful reduction.
A new trial on a preserved trial error that was not harmless.
Outright acquittal. Very rare.

And a point about what "winning" produces. A new trial means trying the case again, with the government having heard the defense once. A resentencing means going back before the same judge with a corrected range. Neither is freedom by itself, and preparing a client and family for that is part of the representation.

The counterweight, which is also true: sentencing relief is real and it is measured in years. A guidelines error corrected on a lengthy sentence can return a substantial portion of a person's life. That is worth the work even when reversal of the conviction is not realistic, and it is the outcome that appellate practice most reliably produces.

A note on cost and time. A direct appeal typically runs a year or more from notice to decision; state post-conviction runs one to three years; federal habeas commonly three to five. The whole sequence can consume a decade. Which is another reason to start the investigation early, keep the file usable, and pursue the parallel avenues — compassionate release, retroactivity, parole — that operate on shorter timelines.

Six cases

The appeal nobody filed

A man is sentenced on a Thursday. He tells his lawyer in the holding cell, "I want to appeal." Nothing is filed. Nineteen days later a family member calls the clerk and learns there is no notice of appeal on the docket.

This is a recognized and favorable claim. Where a defendant asks counsel to file an appeal and counsel does not, prejudice is presumed for ineffective assistance purposes — the defendant need not show the appeal would have succeeded, only that they wanted one.

What to do immediately:

Write to the court stating the request was made, when, and to whom, and asking for leave to file out of time.
Write to trial counsel requesting confirmation of what was filed, and the complete file.
File a post-conviction motion seeking restoration of appeal rights, in whatever form the jurisdiction provides.
Do it now. The remedy exists but it too has deadlines.

And the preventive step for anyone at sentencing: ask counsel, in the courtroom, "Are you filing the notice of appeal?" and then get a stamped copy within two weeks. The fifteen minutes it takes to confirm is worth more than any argument later.

The transcript that was ordered short

Appellate counsel orders "the trial transcript." The strongest issue turns out to be a ruling made at a sidebar during jury selection, which was not transcribed.

Order everything, and be specific: arraignment, all pretrial hearings, suppression hearings, voir dire, openings, all testimony, every bench and sidebar conference, the charge conference, the instructions as read, jury questions and readbacks, the verdict, and sentencing with rulings on each objection.

In indigent cases the transcript is provided at public expense, but only what is requested. A partial transcript is the most common cause of a lost issue, and supplementing later costs months.

And check whether sidebars were recorded at all. In some courtrooms they are not, which is itself a problem worth raising — and which is a reason for trial counsel to make a record on the open record after any unrecorded conference.

The brief with eleven issues

A brief raises eleven claims, including sufficiency of the evidence, a hearsay ruling, three instruction complaints, prosecutorial misconduct, and cumulative error.

The court will read the first two carefully. A brief that leads with a hopeless sufficiency challenge signals that counsel cannot distinguish strong from weak, and the guidelines calculation error buried at issue nine gets the attention that placement earns.

Rebuild it around three questions: Was it preserved? What is the standard of review? Is it in the record and would it have changed the outcome?

Applied here, that probably leaves: the guidelines calculation error (preserved, de novo review of the legal question, clearly affects the sentence); the instruction error (preserved, and the instruction misstated an element); and possibly the evidentiary ruling if the evidence was central.

Drop sufficiency unless the record genuinely lacks evidence on an element — the standard asks whether any rational juror could have convicted on the evidence viewed favorably to the verdict, and it is nearly insurmountable.

A brief with three developed issues, each with record citations and a harmless-error analysis, is a stronger document than eleven paragraphs.

The file trial counsel would not send

Post-conviction counsel writes for the trial file. Nothing arrives. A second letter goes unanswered.

The client is entitled to the file. Escalate methodically:

A written demand citing the client's ownership of the file, with a deadline and a signed authorization from the client.
A follow-up copying the state bar's client-file guidance.
A bar complaint or fee dispute referral if it continues — most jurisdictions treat withholding a client file as a disciplinary matter.
Court intervention — a motion in the post-conviction proceeding for an order directing production.
Reconstruct in parallel: the court file, the docket, the transcripts, discovery from the prosecutor's office, and a public records request for the police file.

And note what the file is for. It shows what counsel had — the police report naming the witness who was never interviewed, the discovery letter, the investigator's invoice or its absence. Counsel's knowledge is an element of the deficiency showing, and the file is how it is proven.

The habeas petition filed 371 days after finality

A petitioner's conviction became final on 3 April. He filed a state petition on 20 November, which was denied and finally resolved on 8 February two years later. He filed in federal court on 12 August.

Count it: 231 days ran before the state petition. Tolling while it was pending. Then 185 days after. Total: 416 days. Untimely.

Where it went wrong: counsel believed the clock restarted after state proceedings concluded. It does not. It resumes from where it stopped, and by February only 134 days remained.

What might still be argued:

An alternative start date, if a factual predicate was discovered later or a new retroactive right was recognized.
Equitable tolling, requiring diligence plus an extraordinary circumstance — attorney abandonment, for instance, rather than ordinary miscalculation.
Actual innocence as a gateway, which requires new reliable evidence and a showing that no reasonable juror would have convicted.

All three are hard. The fix is arithmetic done on day one, in writing, with dates, and a calendar entry ninety days before expiration.

The claim that had to be built in state court

A petitioner's state post-conviction counsel filed a two-page petition asserting ineffective assistance, attached nothing, requested no hearing, and lost. Federal habeas counsel wants to develop the claim with affidavits and expert reports.

After Shinn, that is generally not available. A federal habeas court may not hold an evidentiary hearing or otherwise consider evidence beyond the state-court record where the prisoner or their counsel failed to develop the factual basis in state court. Martinez may excuse the procedural default, but it does not open the door to new evidence.

Which is the single most important practical instruction in this field: the affidavits, the records, the expert reports, and the hearing testimony must be created in the STATE post-conviction proceeding.

What that means concretely for anyone filing one:

Investigate before filing, not after.
Attach everything — affidavits, records, reports.
Request an evidentiary hearing explicitly, and if it is denied, make an offer of proof stating precisely what the evidence would have shown.
Preserve the denial of a hearing as its own claim.

A two-page state petition is not a placeholder. It is frequently the end of the case, and the person who files it is often an appointed lawyer with two hundred others.

Preparing for sentencing, if that is still ahead

If the case has not yet been sentenced, this is where the most is available.

Read the presentence report three times: once for the guidelines arithmetic, once for factual accuracy, once for what it says about the person.

Object in writing, by the deadline, to:

Every guidelines calculation — offense level, enhancements, criminal history, and the resulting range.
Every factual inaccuracy, including those that do not affect the range. The report follows the defendant into custody and drives security classification, program eligibility, and later release decisions. A wrong entry about gang affiliation or a "history of violence" can cost years of programming.
Any unresolved dispute, which the court must resolve or expressly disclaim as not affecting the sentence.

Build the mitigation record, with documents rather than adjectives:

A social history connecting background to the offense.
Records: school, medical, mental health, military, employment, treatment.
An evaluation where a condition is present.
Letters from people who know the defendant now, each describing something specific they have observed.
A concrete plan — job, housing, treatment, supervision — because judges sentence more leniently when they can see the alternative.
Comparable sentences, where the disparity factor helps.

Prepare the allocution. Three minutes, spoken not read, accountable and specific about the harm and what has changed. Rehearse it out loud. The most common failure is a defendant told to "say something" who then minimizes, blames, or relitigates guilt.

Prepare anyone else who will speak. Brief, specific, and no attacks on the victim, the prosecutor, or the police.

Ask for a specific number. A memorandum requesting "a sentence below the guidelines" invites the bottom of the range; one requesting a specific term with a supported rationale gives the court something to grant.

And preserve everything. Every objection made and ruled on at sentencing is a live appellate issue; every one not made is reviewed for plain error, if at all.

Other routes worth checking in the same review

While the appeal or petition is being prepared, four other avenues should be screened. They are frequently faster than habeas and are routinely overlooked.

Compassionate release or sentence reduction. In the federal system, a motion for a reduction on extraordinary and compelling grounds — serious medical condition, age combined with time served, death or incapacity of a caregiver for a minor child, and other recognized grounds — filed after exhausting administrative remedies or thirty days from a request to the warden. Most states have analogous medical, geriatric, or compassionate release statutes, and they are among the most underused provisions in corrections law.

Retroactive changes in the law. Where a sentencing guideline amendment or a statutory change has been made retroactive, a motion for reduction lies in the sentencing court. Check periodically — retroactivity decisions happen after sentencing and nobody notifies the defendant.

Parole and release credits. Where parole exists, eligibility dates, hearing preparation, and the record presented to the board are their own project — and one where a well-assembled packet of program certificates, work evaluations, disciplinary history, and a release plan measurably affects outcomes. Also check good-time and earned-time credit calculations, which are frequently miscomputed and which can be challenged administratively.

Clemency. Commutation and pardon are discretionary, standardless, and unappealable — and also real. Applications generally require the record, a statement of the case, the institutional record, and letters. Some states have active boards and others effectively none, so find out before investing.

And two things that are not relief but matter:

Correcting the record. Errors in the presentence report, the judgment, or the sentence computation can be corrected administratively or by motion, and they affect classification, programming, and release dates.

Planning for reentry now. Records relief, driver's license reinstatement, identification documents, benefits applications, and licensing restoration all take months and can be started before release. See Clearing Your Criminal Record and Surviving Community Supervision.

Working with an incarcerated client

Post-conviction work is done at a distance, through mail that is opened, calls that are recorded, and visits that are scheduled. A few practices make it workable.

Mail. Legal mail marked as such is generally treated differently from ordinary correspondence, but the rules vary by facility and are not always followed. Mark it properly, keep copies of everything sent, and note that outgoing mail may be delayed by days. Never send originals of documents that cannot be replaced.

Calls and video visits. Assume they are recorded and reviewed unless the facility has a verified attorney line. Do not discuss case facts on a general line. Arrange legal calls through the facility's process, which usually requires advance scheduling.

Visits. Schedule ahead; bring identification; expect limits on what may be brought in. A single in-person visit early is worth many letters — it is where a client tells you the fact nobody wrote down.

What the client knows that nobody has asked. Incarcerated clients routinely hold the most useful information in the case: who else was present, what the witness actually said before trial, which officer was there, what counsel told them and when, and what they told counsel. Ask systematically — a written questionnaire works well because it can be completed without a phone call.

Documents. Clients frequently have partial files: letters from counsel, discovery copies, transcripts. Ask for an inventory of what they hold, and get copies rather than originals.

Managing expectations without extinguishing hope. Be specific about odds, timelines, and what each step can produce, and be equally specific about what is actually being worked on this month. A client who knows what is happening participates usefully; one who does not writes to everyone and works against the strategy.

And the practical humanity of it. Post-conviction clients have usually been told no by everyone for years. Returning phone calls, answering letters, and saying plainly what can and cannot be done is a substantial part of the job — and clients who are treated that way supply better information, which produces better claims.

Public records requests that produce the file

The police file is where Brady material surfaces years later, and obtaining it is a records exercise rather than a litigation one.

Send requests to every agency that touched the case, separately:

The arresting agency and any assisting department.
The prosecutor's office (frequently exempt in whole or part, but ask).
The crime lab, for bench notes, calibration records, and proficiency testing.
The medical examiner, where applicable.
Dispatch or the emergency communications center, for call recordings and CAD logs.
Jail records, for calls, visits, and incident reports involving witnesses.
Any other agency — probation, child protective services, a school district — that generated a report used in the case.

Ask for specific record types, because a general request produces a general denial:

All incident and supplemental reports; officer notes and rough notes; witness statements, recorded and written; photographic and video evidence including body-worn and dash camera footage; CAD and dispatch logs; evidence logs and chain of custody records; laboratory reports and bench notes; identification procedure documentation including photo arrays and the admonitions used; any record of benefits, consideration, or agreements provided to any witness; and the retention schedule applicable to each category.

Include a preservation demand in the same letter, because retention schedules destroy evidence on a calendar and the destruction is routine rather than malicious.

Expect exemptions — ongoing investigation, privacy, work product — and appeal them administratively, which is free and frequently narrows the withholding.

Then use what arrives. The most valuable items are usually the least dramatic: a supplemental report naming a witness who does not appear anywhere else, a dispatch log with a time inconsistent with the testimony, a photo array with an admonition that was not given, or a note recording what a witness said before it was written up.

And a practical note: these requests take months. Send them at the beginning of the post-conviction investigation, not when the petition is due.

Twelve mistakes

Not filing the notice of appeal, or not confirming it was filed.
Ordering a partial transcript, and losing the issue that lives in voir dire or a sidebar.
Raising ineffective assistance on direct appeal, which loses and can bar it later.
Leading with sufficiency of the evidence, the least winnable issue there is.
Raising eleven issues and burying the good one at number nine.
Failing to cite the record for every factual assertion.
Never obtaining the trial file from counsel.
Never requesting the police file through public records, where Brady material lives.
Filing a bare state post-conviction petition with no affidavits, no records, and no hearing request.
Assuming the habeas clock restarts after state proceedings instead of resuming.
Presenting a claim only in a state intermediate court and never to the state's highest court, leaving it unexhausted.
Missing compassionate release, retroactive amendments, parole preparation, and credit corrections while focused on habeas.

The one-page version

Week one: file the notice of appeal (14 days federal, 30–60 state, jurisdictional) · confirm it in writing · request appointed appellate counsel · demand the complete trial file from counsel.

Weeks two to eight: order all transcripts including voir dire, suppression, sidebars, the charge conference, and sentencing · assemble the docket, filings, exhibits, instructions, and the presentence report · read all of it with a pen.

Issue selection: preserved? · what standard of review? · in the record? · would it change the outcome? Three strong issues, not eleven. Never sufficiency unless an element genuinely lacks evidence. Never ineffective assistance on direct appeal.

Collateral review: identify what survived · find and calendar the state deadline · investigate before filing — trial file, police file by public records request, witness affidavits, records, experts, counsel's explanation · attach everything and request an evidentiary hearing, and make an offer of proof if denied.

Habeas: calculate the year in writing, with dates — finality (plus 90 days for certiorari), days before the state petition, tolling while properly filed and pending, days after · exhaust every claim in the state's highest court · remember that after Shinn the facts must be developed in state court.

In parallel: compassionate release · retroactive amendments · parole preparation · credit and record corrections · reentry planning.

Families: order transcripts · collect and organize the file · send records requests · locate witnesses · gather records · keep the deadline calendar · write the timeline.

What it costs, and who pays

Money shapes post-conviction practice more than doctrine does, and nobody says so plainly.

On direct appeal, an indigent defendant is entitled to appointed counsel, and to a free transcript. That is the one stage where the resources are guaranteed. It is also the stage most likely to be handled by an overloaded appellate defender with a docket of forty cases, which is a reason to be an organized, useful client rather than a passive one.

In state post-conviction, there is generally no federal constitutional right to appointed counsel. Some states provide it by statute for a first petition, some provide it only in capital cases, and some provide none. This is why the majority of state post-conviction petitions in the country are filed by people representing themselves, from inside, on a prison library's schedule.

In federal habeas, counsel may be appointed where an evidentiary hearing is required, and is provided in capital cases. Otherwise most petitions are filed pro se.

What that means practically:

Ask, at every stage, whether counsel can be appointed, and get the refusal in writing if the answer is no. A documented request matters later.
Ask about funds for investigation and experts. Many states have a mechanism for indigent post-conviction expenses. It is underused because nobody asks.
Law school clinics and innocence projects take cases at no cost, particularly where there is DNA, a recantation, a discredited forensic discipline, or a documented Brady problem. Their intake criteria are published; read them and write to the ones that fit rather than to all of them.
Private counsel in this area typically works on a flat fee. Ask what it covers: record review only, or investigation, petition, hearing, and appeal? Ask what happens if a hearing is granted. Get it in writing.
Transcript costs in post-conviction are frequently the client's, and they are substantial. Ask early whether the appellate file already contains what you need — it usually does, and it can usually be obtained from prior counsel for the cost of copying.

And a warning about the industry. People writing to incarcerated men and women offering to "review your case" for a fee, promising results, and disappearing after the first payment are a persistent problem. No competent lawyer promises an outcome. Verify the bar license, ask for a written fee agreement, ask for the names of two cases they have litigated to a hearing, and be suspicious of anyone whose first communication came unsolicited.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to appeal? Fourteen days in federal court, thirty to sixty in most states. File it even if you are unsure.

Can we bring new evidence on appeal? No. Appeals are decided on the existing record. New evidence goes in collateral review.

Why won't my lawyer raise ineffective assistance on appeal? Because the record cannot support it and raising it there can bar it later. It belongs in state post-conviction.

How many issues should the brief raise? Few and strong. Three good issues beat eleven, because weak issues discredit good ones.

What is the habeas deadline? One year, with tolling for properly filed state proceedings. Calculate it in writing with dates — this is where most petitions are lost.

We can't afford a lawyer for post-conviction. There is usually no right to appointed counsel there. Try state post-conviction defender offices, law school clinics, innocence organizations, and bar pro bono programs — and write a specific letter.