Yes. A guilty plea does not necessarily eliminate your ability to appeal a Michigan criminal conviction or sentence. But appealing after a guilty or no-contest plea is different from appealing a conviction after trial. In a Michigan felony case, a defendant convicted after a guilty or no-contest plea generally does not have an automatic appeal…
A Michigan criminal conviction cannot stand unless the prosecution presented sufficient evidence from which a rational factfinder could find every essential element of the offense proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If the prosecution failed to prove even one required element, the conviction may be reversed on appeal. But an insufficient-evidence appeal is not simply an…
A criminal conviction is not necessarily legally valid simply because a jury returned a guilty verdict. The People v McClure Michigan appeal illustrates this fact. One of the most important questions in a criminal appeal is more fundamental: Did the prosecution actually prove every legal element of the offense? People v. McClure, unpublished opinion of…
If you or a family member has lost a criminal case in the Michigan Court of Appeals, the case may not necessarily be over. A defendant may be able to ask the Michigan Supreme Court to review the decision by filing an application for leave to appeal. But the Michigan Supreme Court does not have…
Winning a criminal appeal requires more than identifying something that went wrong at trial. An appellate attorney must find the legal significance of that error, preserve or develop the necessary record, frame the constitutional issue, and persuade an appellate court that the error requires meaningful relief. People v. Gonzalez-Raymundo, 308 Mich App 175; 862 NW2d…
A Michigan application for leave to appeal is the procedure used in certain criminal cases to ask the Michigan Court of Appeals for permission to review a conviction, sentence, or other criminal-court ruling when the defendant does not have an automatic appeal as of right. This procedure is particularly important for defendants who were convicted…
If you or a loved one has been convicted of a crime in Michigan, you may have the right to appeal the conviction, sentence, or other errors that occurred during the criminal case. But a Michigan criminal appeal is not simply a second trial. It is a highly technical legal process in which an appellate…
Yes. You can appeal a Michigan criminal sentence in many circumstances—even if you are not challenging your conviction. A Michigan criminal sentence may be challenged when it is unreasonable or disproportionate, based on inaccurate information, affected by an error in scoring the sentencing guidelines, based on an improper sentencing factor, or otherwise imposed contrary to…
Key Takeaway: Prosecutorial Misconduct Can Be a Powerful Issue in a Michigan Criminal Appeal Prosecutorial misconduct in Michigan criminal appeals is not simply about identifying something a prosecutor did wrong. The critical question is whether the prosecutor’s conduct violated the defendant’s rights, undermined the fairness of the trial, and provides a legally sufficient basis for…
No, you generally do not need an attorney to file an MCR 6.500 motion in Michigan. You can file a motion for relief from judgment yourself. However, Michigan’s post-conviction rules are complex, and defendants are generally limited to one motion, making an experienced MCR 6.500 attorney valuable for identifying viable claims, avoiding procedural problems, and…
