Jonathan Laurans - Kansas City Appeals Attorney & Post-Conviction: appeals lawyer

Showing posts with label appeals lawyer. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2016

Nothing to see here, folks?

On February 29th, the United States Supreme Court in Williams v. Pennsylvania, No. 15-5040 entertained oral arguments about "judicial bias." Specifically, the issue is whether Mr. Williams has a right to object to one particular judge on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court presiding over his appeal of his death sentence, where that judge was the elected county prosecutor at the time of Williams' trial, who gave the go-ahead to pursue the death penalty against Williams in the first instance. Oh, and to those who might argue that the remaining judges on Pennsylvania's highest court likely wouldn't be influenced by this one judge's lobbying or vote? Well, the former prosecutor is now the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

It is mind-numbing to me that the Chief Justice failed to recuse himself the very second that Williams' case was accepted for highest appellate review. No amount of time passage between the Chief Justice's previous role as "prosecutor seeking death" and his current role as "the head judge deciding whether death ought to be imposed" can purge the taint which is obvious here. And yet it will apparently take the United States Supreme Court to step in and cure this ethical "dilemma"? Sometimes it's shameful that a case so obvious takes so long to resolve. Then again, the United States Supreme Court may surprise me and rule that "[t]here's nothing to see here, folks."

If you have a family member or friend who is facing charges, or if you are a lawyer seeking assistance with an appeal or post-conviction matter, please call this office immediately. There are always time deadlines limiting when these claims can be raised. If you wish to learn more about the process, call now.

Jonathan Laurans wants you to be educated as to what you may be facing. If you or a loved one has been convicted of a crime in Missouri, Kansas or Texas, or in any federal court, contact him immediately. Visit his website at www.kansascitymoattorney.com and then call him at (816) 421-5200 for a FREE initial legal consultation.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The Right to an Effective Representation Includes Competent Appellate Advice

On Friday, March 25th, the Kansas Supreme Court in State v. Shelly, No. 109,292 and State v. Perry, 109,506 clarified that a defense lawyer's duty as adviser extends past trial/plea and sentencing, to that brief period after sentencing when the client must decide whether to file for appellate review in the Court of Appeals or in the Supreme Court. A lawyer does not fulfill his or her duty in this regard by simply telling the client (1) "appeals never work," or (2) "there's nothing here to appeal." Instead, these cases from the Kansas Supreme Court require defense attorneys to explain exactly what types of issues can or cannot be appealed from the client's trial/plea and/or sentencing, and why or why not an appeal ought to be filed. Only upon receiving informed advice and counseling will a client's initial decision to forego an appeal be held against the client who later files for an appeal beyond the initial deadline for doing so.

To me, this means two things: For potential Kansas clients, do not ever assume your case is closed. Instead, call this office or another experienced appellate/post-conviction attorney who can evaluate whether your appellate rights can be resuscitated. And for practicing Kansas attorneys, in instances where you believe that no appeal ought to be taken but the client is wavering or in disagreement, file the Notice of Appeal immediately (due within 14 days from the date the sentence is pronounced from the bench, as opposed to the later filing of the journal entry), and simultaneously file a motion to withdraw. That way, the client's right is exercised, but a new lawyer will be appointed to either dissuade the client, or pursue the appeal you had no interest in litigating.

Friday, March 4, 2016

The Right to an Individualized Sentence

Under federal law, "conspirators" in drug cases are charged, and most often times convicted, under statutes that proscribe penalties based on aggregate drug amounts for all those indicted together. However, when it comes time for sentencing, federal law requires prosecutors to only seek, and judges to only impose, sentences based on individual culpability. Unfortunately, while courts nationwide have adhered to these rules for years, there have been a few prosecutors in the Kansas U.S. Attorney's Office who have either ignored or circumvented the law of individual accountability, instead seeking sentences years in excess of those allowed by applicable law.

Two Fridays ago, on February 12th, one such prosecutor was finally put to the task of defending her practices in this regard. Facing a thoroughly documented brief I researched and prepared, this prosecutor conceded that she had sought a 10-year prison term and a $17 million forfeiture both in well in excess of that allowed by law. We now await the judge's ruling reversing the sentence and forfeiture, which hopefully is just a formality. The lesson? Just because a prosecutor's act looks official, don't be afraid to challenge it! These prosecutors are not infallible, and they can (should) be taken to task for their errors, especially ones they knowingly have been committing against citizens for months or longer across a swath of cases.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Illegal Sentences

If you have a friend or family member who was sentenced for a drug offense in the past several years in the District of Kansas, you may wish to get a professional opinion about the legality of that sentence. There is an office policy officially declaring that it is the intent of the U.S. Attorney to follow sentencing laws limited by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, sitting in Denver. However, there is at least one assistant prosecutor in that office who has been ignoring the policy and has been seeking sentences far and above circuit court law. It may not be too late for some sentenced drug offenders to obtain judicial relief and sentence reductions.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

New Year, Same Old Deadlines!

With the passing of time, the calendar flips once again, now into 2016! Now that the celebrations have died down somewhat, and we are all (or most of us are) back to work, it is a good time to remind inmates and their families that post-conviction time deadlines are continuing to roll past. Get advice immediately about the specific state or federal time deadlines applicable to your case! Do not delay! Cases are dismissed across the country every single day due to procedural default (untimeliness), which means the merits of these cases will never see the inside of a courtroom, and will never be heard.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for reading my blog entries, and perusing my website throughout this fantastic year! Rather than blog about another legal topic, in this installment, I simply will use this medium to wish all of you a very safe, healthy and Happy Holiday Season!

Monday, December 7, 2015

When Two Lawyers are Better Than One.

Earlier this week I was asked to join a defense team defending a young man facing serious prison time for allegedly transporting illegal drugs in a vehicle. At issue, first and foremost, is the manner in which the police conducted their warrantless search of the vehicle, without getting judicial permission (in the form of a search warrant as required by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution). The current lawyers know that the case is going to need to be appealed because the trial judge has decided to excuse the police officers' decision to search the car using a drug-sniffing dog, in a manner which seemingly is in contravention of recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent. So why bring on board an appellate attorney before an appeal is ripe to proceed? Because an appellate lawyer can help phrase and preserve the issues at trial properly so that the appeal is framed correctly. This is money well spent by the client. A group of well-coordinated defense attorneys, each with different skill sets, increases a defendant's chances against the behemoth power of the state and federal governments.

If you have a family member or friend who is facing charges on the heels of an illegal search by police, or if you are a lawyer seeking assistance with an appeal or post-conviction matter, please call this office immediately. There are always time deadlines limiting when these claims can be raised. If you wish to learn more about the process, call now.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The trial you never got - The post-conviction evidentiary hearing:

In post-conviction litigation, your attorney's goal is to write an opening "motion" which is compelling enough such that the judge cannot summarily deny relief, and instead must hold an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the claims asserted. In order for a client to have any chance whatsoever at obtaining post-conviction relief, the attorney must be prepared to call witnesses to the stand, and introduce all of the evidence which is alleged in the post-conviction motion to have been overlooked back during the underlying criminal trial court proceedings. It is not enough to simply inform the judge of what the evidence "would have been" had the underlying proceedings been handled correctly. Instead, in the evidentiary hearing, the client's post-conviction attorney must "put on the trial the client never got."

If you have a family member or friend whose lengthy sentence was based at least in part on prior convictions, or if you are a lawyer seeking assistance with an appeal or post-conviction matter, please call this office immediately. There are always time deadlines limiting when these claims can be raised. If you wish to learn more about the process, call now.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

The Appellate Oral Argument.

Little is ever written about how an attorney should handle oral arguments in the appellate courts. And the one and only answer will not be provided here because there is no consensus. But after arguing appeals for well over twenty years, I can safely opine a few tips: Presume the judges on the panel have all become quite familiar with the facts of the case, and the issues being raised. (They have law clerks who distill all of the briefing for them, and send them in with "cheat sheets" and memos.) Try scrapping the formalities and the introductory remarks. (These are simply time-wasters. Remember, you'll be "on the clock" because oral arguments at this level are time-constrained.) Avoid arguing anything already written in your brief, as this will cause your judges to lose interest, as they've already read the briefs. (Never say, "As I argued on page XX of my brief. . . . ") Instead, in the time between briefing and oral argument, occasionally re-read your brief and that of your opponent, and keep a list of ideas that are new and which have popped up during this interim. These are the Golden Nuggets which can make or break your case with a judge that may have already been leaning against you. A new twist on the old argument is precisely what can change a set mind.

Appeals & Post-Conviction