Why A Cheap Plea Deal May Be The Most Expensive Criminal Defense

Many people faced with their first criminal arrest are tempted to minimize their criminal defense costs. Sometimes this approach is to minimize the attorney fees by accepting a plea deal offered by the prosecutor. But this may turn out to be the most expensive course of action. I am a Hamilton County criminal defense attorney, but I have appeared in court in almost half of Indiana counties and have seen the range of approaches different prosecutors and Judges take toward different criminal cases.

It is natural to want to end litigation especially when you are the defendant in a criminal case. Criminal cases are stressful, embarrassing, and on a certain period in addition, defendants who must make the decision as to whether they are the state can prove that they committed a crime and what punishment should be inflicted. Many times people are focused on relieving this uncertainty by the sighting what their punishment will be rather than face the uncertainty of what a judge forgery will impose on them.

Plea deals are a necessary component of the criminal justice system. This blog post is not to say that plea deals by themselves are good or bad. However, a person who is confronted with a plea deal must evaluate the long term consequences of what they are pleading to.

Pleading to a traffic related offense can have severe financial consequences on your insurance rates. Leading to a felony can have severe consequences on future employment. Pleading guilty to certain crimes can have severe consequences on future child custody or parenting time modification request.

When charged with a crime and consulting with an attorney, the first evaluation of the defense strategy between you and your criminal defense attorney should be whether the charge can be dismissed or reduced based on the evidence supporting the charging information.

If you are charged with a crime, you can arrange a strategic review of your situation by using our Contact page. I am more than willing to represent you in your criminal case to achieve the best possible outcome for your situation by efficient and effective strategy focused on your goals in the criminal matter.

WHEN SHOULD YOU FILE AN INDIANA APPEAL

Picture this.

You're involved in litigation. You've hired a lawyer and paid the lawyer a fair amount of money. You've had evidence gathered. You called witnesses.

You've had a contentious and sometimes bitter struggle with the opposing party. The other lawyer has gotten on your last nerve.

But you've had your day in court. You have worked with your lawyer and spent a fair amount of time and money to build and present the case that you and your lawyer believe will seal the deal. All of your emotions and quite possibly a certain direction of your future life has been invested in that hearing.

And the Court finally issued its order.

And the order is nothing like you expected.

What do you do when the court - in your opinion - got it wrong?

One solution is to file a Notice of Appeal. This begins the process by which the court of appeals will review the trial court's order and to a certain extent, the decision making process, and determine if the order that was issued is in compliance with Indiana law. An appeal is not a new trial. It is not a request for the court of appeals to reweigh the evidence and come to a different conclusion. It is a request for the Court of Appeals to review and determine that the trial court made a decision that is supported by the evidence and in compliance with Indiana law.

This article is not a primer on appellate procedure.
You should review that with an experienced appellate attorney. The decision to file an appeal on any particular order is something that should be carefully considered by you both in terms of cost and likelihood of success. You should also be aware that the Notice of Appeal of a final dispositive order must be filed within 30 days of the entry of the order on the chronological case summary, so there is a definite and non-extendable deadline to decide whether or not to file an appeal.  An appeal during litigation but prior to a final order is called an interlocutory appeal and has unique and specific criteria and deadlines for filing.

The appeal itself is a number of issues asked as questions to the Court of Appeals to review and answer. The appeal brief consists of the research and evidence from the trial to support your particular answer to these questions and possibly an appendix of the evidence presented at trial. The other side (or other sides, if there are more than 2 parties to the appeal) has the opportunity to respond to your argument. The Court of Appeals will consider both side’s arguments as well as their own review and research of Indiana law to issue their opinion.

You do not have to be concerned that you are creating new law or interpreting a statute or a prior case in a unique and novel way.
Sometimes the request in the appeal is to interpret a law in a new way or to ask that a law be interpreted according to new societal norms. This is rare in Indiana, as the Court of Appeals has a great deference to the authority of the legislature to create and change existing law. However, it is not unheard of for the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court to issue an opinion with a an interpretation of existing case law or interpretation of the statue that is in line with more current thinking.

If your gut tells you that the order you received is not correct, then it is certainly worth the time to review that order with an attorney for the purpose of filing an appeal.
There are other pleadings in the nature of an appeal that may be more appropriate. For example, a Motion to Correct Errors or a Petition for Relief from Judgment.  Be aware that this review must occur within 30 days of the final order being entered on the chronological case summary. The Petition for Relief from Judgment has longer deadlines depending on the relief you are requesting. Interlocutory appeals (appeals during litigation) have their own deadlines and they do have unique criteria that must be met before the interlocutory appeal can be filed.
Use our CONTACT page to schedule a strategic review of an Order so you can consider filing an  appeal or other pleading.  Please be sure to include the DATE of the Order in the information being sent, so the consultation can be timely scheduled.