Summary. Twelve sequences from presentence report objections through federal habeas, with the jurisdictional deadlines flagged.

1. Presentence report

  • Read it three times: guidelines arithmetic · factual accuracy · what it says about the person.
  • Object in writing, by the deadline, to every guidelines calculation: offense level, enhancements, criminal history, resulting range.
  • Object to every factual inaccuracy, including those that do not change the range — the report drives classification, program eligibility, and release.
  • Identify each disputed fact specifically and demand resolution or an express disclaimer that it did not affect the sentence.
  • Verify criminal history entries against certified dispositions.
  • Confirm restitution figures and their basis.

2. Mitigation record

  • Social history connecting background to the offense.
  • Records: school · medical · mental health · military · employment · treatment.
  • Evaluation where a condition is present, with diagnosis, treatment needs, prognosis.
  • Letters from people who know the defendant now — specific observations, not adjectives.
  • A concrete plan: job, housing, treatment slot, supervision.
  • Comparable sentences supporting the disparity factor.
  • A sentencing memorandum that supplies evidence on the statutory factors, not a recitation of them.
  • Request a specific number, with a supported rationale.

3. Allocution and the hearing

  • Prepare three minutes, spoken not read: accountable, specific about the harm, forward-looking.
  • Rehearse out loud.
  • Do not: relitigate guilt · minimize · blame · read a long text.
  • Prepare anyone else who will speak — brief, no attacks on the victim, prosecutor, or police.
  • Preserve every objection on the record.
  • Confirm the court ruled on each objection and stated reasons.

4. Immediately after sentencing

  • FILE THE NOTICE OF APPEAL — 14 days federal, 30–60 state. Jurisdictional.
  • Confirm in writing it was filed; obtain a stamped copy.
  • Request appointed appellate counsel if indigent.
  • Demand the complete trial file from counsel, in writing.
  • Obtain the judgment and docket sheet.
  • Note the date direct review will become final — it starts the habeas clock.

5. The record

  • Order transcripts of everything: arraignment · all pretrial hearings · suppression · voir dire · openings · all testimony · every bench and sidebar conference · charge conference · instructions as read · jury questions and readbacks · verdict · sentencing with rulings.
  • Confirm sidebars were recorded at all; if not, raise it.
  • Assemble: docket · all filings · exhibits · instructions given and refused · verdict forms · presentence report.
  • Read all of it with a pen.

6. Issue selection

For each candidate issue:

  • Was it preserved? (ordinary review vs. plain error)
  • What is the standard of review? (de novo > abuse of discretion > sufficiency)
  • Is it in the record? If not, it is a collateral claim.
  • Would it have changed the outcome? (harmless error)
  • Raise few and strong — three developed issues beat eleven.
  • Do NOT raise sufficiency unless an element genuinely lacks evidence.
  • Do NOT raise ineffective assistance on direct appeal — it loses and can bar it later.

7. The brief and argument

  • Record citation for every factual assertion.
  • Lead each argument with the standard of review.
  • Address harmless error affirmatively.
  • State the specific relief requested.
  • Prepare the three hardest questions for argument.
  • Calendar deadlines for discretionary review in the state's highest court and certiorari (90 days).

8. Transition to collateral review

  • Identify what survived: ineffective assistance · newly discovered evidence · Brady · involuntary plea · jurisdictional and structural claims.
  • Identify what is barred: claims decided on direct appeal (previously litigated) · claims that could have been raised and were not (defaulted).
  • Find and calendar the state post-conviction deadline.
  • Determine whether counsel is appointed in this jurisdiction's post-conviction proceeding.

9. Investigating ineffective assistance

  • Obtain the trial file — escalate if withheld: written demand · bar guidance · bar complaint · motion for an order.
  • Public records request for the police file: incident and supplemental reports · officer notes · witness statements · photos, body-worn and dash video · CAD and dispatch logs · evidence and chain of custody · lab reports and bench notes · identification procedure records · benefits provided to witnesses · retention schedules.
  • Include a preservation demand in every request.
  • Interview witnesses nobody interviewed; obtain affidavits stating what they know and that they were available and willing at the time.
  • Obtain the records nobody obtained: medical, mental health, school, employment, phone, surveillance.
  • Consult the expert nobody consulted.
  • Ask trial counsel to explain the decision; note a refusal.
  • Write the claim with specifics: what was not done, what it would have produced, and why the result would reasonably probably differ.

10. Filing the state petition

  • Investigate before filing, not after.
  • Attach everything — affidavits, records, expert reports.
  • Request an evidentiary hearing explicitly.
  • If a hearing is denied, make a detailed offer of proof and preserve the denial as its own claim.
  • Present every federal claim to the state's highest court for exhaustion.
  • Remember: after Shinn, the factual record must be built here.

11. Federal habeas deadline (do this in writing)

  • Finality date — including the 90 days for certiorari where the state's highest court ruled.
  • Days elapsed from finality to the filing of the state petition: ____
  • Was the state petition "properly filed"? (An untimely one tolls nothing.)
  • Days elapsed after state proceedings finally concluded: ____
  • Total: ____ / 365.
  • Check alternative start dates: new retroactive right · factual predicate discoverable with due diligence.
  • Confirm exhaustion of every claim.
  • Identify any procedural default and the cause-and-prejudice or actual-innocence argument.
  • Note the second-or-successive authorization requirement for any later petition.
  • Calendar 90 days before expiration.

12. Parallel avenues (screen all of them)

  • Compassionate release / sentence reduction — extraordinary and compelling reasons; exhaust or wait 30 days from the warden request; assemble medical records, institutional record, and a release plan.
  • Retroactive guideline or statutory amendments — check periodically; nobody notifies the defendant.
  • Parole, where it exists — eligibility date, hearing packet, program certificates, work evaluations, release plan.
  • Good-time and earned-time credit calculations — frequently miscomputed; challenge administratively.
  • Clemency — commutation or pardon, where the state has an active process.
  • Record corrections — presentence report, judgment, and sentence computation errors.
  • Reentry planning now — records relief, identification, benefits, licensing.

13. Families

  • Order and pay for transcripts if not provided.
  • Collect and organize the trial file.
  • Send the public records requests.
  • Locate witnesses and arrange contact with the investigator or lawyer.
  • Gather records: school, medical, military, employment.
  • Write the case timeline with dates.
  • Keep the deadlines calendar.
  • Maintain correspondence; ask systematically what the incarcerated person knows.
  • For counsel searches: write a specific letter — the conviction, the posture, the deadlines, and the specific reason to doubt the conviction with names, dates, and documents.

Related documents

Educational only, not legal advice. Deadlines differ between the federal system and each state and are frequently jurisdictional. Consult counsel immediately after sentencing.