Donald Trump has returned to the campaign trail with a trip to Arizona, his first appearance in a battleground state since he was convicted in a hush money scandal.
I feel like throwing out some more details, also making the point that I am not a lawyer. I welcome any corrections to my assessments.
On appeals, the court can find that there was an error in the interpretation of the law or the legal process, and also find that the error did not rise to the level of substantially impacting the verdict (whether it was a jury trial or a bench trial). In such a case, the lower court’s verdict stands.
Now, let’s say we have a criminal appeal where, during the appeal case, it is demonstrated that (for example) the police investigation was horribly shoddy or outright corrupt, and this is new information which has been more completely demonstrated after the initial verdict. This would be the rare situation where the appeals court would address a matter of fact, as in “the facts of the initial case were incorrect or incomplete.” In our hypothetical, the appeals court finds that, yes, the failure of that information being revealed in the original case would have had an impact on the verdict, so the appeals court “overturns” (voids) the original trial.
At this point, the District Attorney needs to decide whether to retry the case. Choosing to retry the case does as I described above - everyone starts over. And it is still possible for the defendant to remain in detention pending a verdict. The new trial, with its new jury (or judge), having access to the additional information about the handling of the investigation, now comes to its own decision, ideally separate from the previous trial procedure. If the defendant is now found not guilty, the defendant is freed from any consequences - and may have grounds to file a civil suit against police or the state for their “inconvenience.”
Or, the DA may look at the new information and decide, no, we are not going to pursue these charges any further, because the likelihood of achieving conviction is too low. There are other political implications which may come into play, as District Attorney is an elected office (in most places? in every place? not sure). In this situation, the defendant’s charges being dropped, in the eyes of the law, it is as though the defendant had never been charged with a crime. As above, this person (notably not a defendant) may have grounds for a civil suit.
The other thing about appeals courts (at least federal appeals courts, may be the same or different in various states) is that the first appeal goes before a subset of the entire appeals court panel, generally three judges. If that three-judge panel does not find in favor of the appellant, the appellant can request that the appeal be reviewed en banc, or by all appeals court judges (likely at least seven). I believe that the en banc court can simply review the initial appeal case and affirm the decision there without having to actually hear the case again.
Hm yeah that makes sense. Jury trials are kind of a requirement. Is all this due to the thing in the constitution that says “and no fact tried by a jury shall be retried”?
What I am reading here is that the Seventh Amendment (from whence “no fact tried by a jury shall be retried” comes) only applies to civil cases, and the guarantee of the right to a jury in a civil trial only applies to federal courts. So - when Trump was complaining about “not being allowed to have a jury” in his New York civil fraud case, he was wrong on two counts: One, Alina Habba forgot to check the box requesting a jury in that trial. Two: states are not required to offer a jury trial for civil cases.
But I digress - back to criminal cases.
As always, there are federal courts and all of the state courts. What I see is that, even for criminal cases, federal appeals courts do not address matters of fact. They do not hear evidence or testimony from witnesses. They address issues with the application of the law only.
Let’s look at the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, where Trump’s criminal appeal will go. Right off the bat, I see that “Each case is decided by a panel of five, or in some instances four, justices of the Court. There is no procedure for the Court to sit en banc.” So my previous statements about en banc do not apply in New York State.
With regard to criminal appeals in New York, it seems to get even more interesting.
“In criminal actions, appeals to the Appellate Division are generally authorized as of right by the defendant from a judgment or a sentence.” I take this to mean that a criminal appeal made to this court in New York State is heard by the appellate court - they have neither the option to decline to hear, nor simply review and affirm the lower court.
“In determining appeals it has power to review issues of law, fact, and discretion arising in civil and criminal cases.” “Unlike the Court of Appeals [this is what New York calls its highest court, which other states call their Supreme Court], which, with limited exceptions, has only the power to review errors of law, the Appellate Division has broad power to review questions of law, findings of fact, and exercises of discretion.” The appellate court in New York “has broad power” to review issues of fact; whether they normally exercise that power, I don’t know.
So it seems that, for criminal cases in New York State, my initial assessment of “what appeals courts do” was inaccurate. Again, I don’t know whether this court in New York wields its power to review facts and discretion strongly or not, or whether they would do so in this specific case.
Very well explained thank you.
I feel like throwing out some more details, also making the point that I am not a lawyer. I welcome any corrections to my assessments.
On appeals, the court can find that there was an error in the interpretation of the law or the legal process, and also find that the error did not rise to the level of substantially impacting the verdict (whether it was a jury trial or a bench trial). In such a case, the lower court’s verdict stands.
Now, let’s say we have a criminal appeal where, during the appeal case, it is demonstrated that (for example) the police investigation was horribly shoddy or outright corrupt, and this is new information which has been more completely demonstrated after the initial verdict. This would be the rare situation where the appeals court would address a matter of fact, as in “the facts of the initial case were incorrect or incomplete.” In our hypothetical, the appeals court finds that, yes, the failure of that information being revealed in the original case would have had an impact on the verdict, so the appeals court “overturns” (voids) the original trial.
At this point, the District Attorney needs to decide whether to retry the case. Choosing to retry the case does as I described above - everyone starts over. And it is still possible for the defendant to remain in detention pending a verdict. The new trial, with its new jury (or judge), having access to the additional information about the handling of the investigation, now comes to its own decision, ideally separate from the previous trial procedure. If the defendant is now found not guilty, the defendant is freed from any consequences - and may have grounds to file a civil suit against police or the state for their “inconvenience.”
Or, the DA may look at the new information and decide, no, we are not going to pursue these charges any further, because the likelihood of achieving conviction is too low. There are other political implications which may come into play, as District Attorney is an elected office (in most places? in every place? not sure). In this situation, the defendant’s charges being dropped, in the eyes of the law, it is as though the defendant had never been charged with a crime. As above, this person (notably not a defendant) may have grounds for a civil suit.
The other thing about appeals courts (at least federal appeals courts, may be the same or different in various states) is that the first appeal goes before a subset of the entire appeals court panel, generally three judges. If that three-judge panel does not find in favor of the appellant, the appellant can request that the appeal be reviewed en banc, or by all appeals court judges (likely at least seven). I believe that the en banc court can simply review the initial appeal case and affirm the decision there without having to actually hear the case again.
Hm yeah that makes sense. Jury trials are kind of a requirement. Is all this due to the thing in the constitution that says “and no fact tried by a jury shall be retried”?
What I am reading here is that the Seventh Amendment (from whence “no fact tried by a jury shall be retried” comes) only applies to civil cases, and the guarantee of the right to a jury in a civil trial only applies to federal courts. So - when Trump was complaining about “not being allowed to have a jury” in his New York civil fraud case, he was wrong on two counts: One, Alina Habba forgot to check the box requesting a jury in that trial. Two: states are not required to offer a jury trial for civil cases.
But I digress - back to criminal cases.
As always, there are federal courts and all of the state courts. What I see is that, even for criminal cases, federal appeals courts do not address matters of fact. They do not hear evidence or testimony from witnesses. They address issues with the application of the law only.
Let’s look at the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, where Trump’s criminal appeal will go. Right off the bat, I see that “Each case is decided by a panel of five, or in some instances four, justices of the Court. There is no procedure for the Court to sit en banc.” So my previous statements about en banc do not apply in New York State.
With regard to criminal appeals in New York, it seems to get even more interesting.
“In criminal actions, appeals to the Appellate Division are generally authorized as of right by the defendant from a judgment or a sentence.” I take this to mean that a criminal appeal made to this court in New York State is heard by the appellate court - they have neither the option to decline to hear, nor simply review and affirm the lower court.
“In determining appeals it has power to review issues of law, fact, and discretion arising in civil and criminal cases.” “Unlike the Court of Appeals [this is what New York calls its highest court, which other states call their Supreme Court], which, with limited exceptions, has only the power to review errors of law, the Appellate Division has broad power to review questions of law, findings of fact, and exercises of discretion.” The appellate court in New York “has broad power” to review issues of fact; whether they normally exercise that power, I don’t know.
So it seems that, for criminal cases in New York State, my initial assessment of “what appeals courts do” was inaccurate. Again, I don’t know whether this court in New York wields its power to review facts and discretion strongly or not, or whether they would do so in this specific case.
Are you sure you’re not a lawyer?
All I do is read.