The Law Offices of DeLeonardo, Smith & Associates, in addition to being able to provide you with experienced criminal trial attorneys, also can provided much needed assistance to you, your friends, or your family after they have already been convicted of a crime. The Firm has the ability to review your case, and provide an honest and knowledgeable opinion concerning the existence of various post-trial measures that may be available to change an adverse verdict and/or sentence.
The Firm has former trial and appellate clerks, and that experience can be extremely helpful in recognizing the best method for trying to set aside an unfavorable verdict and/or sentence. In addition, Mr. DeLeonardo is actually employed as an adjunct law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law where he teaches law students how to prepare, write, and argue appellate issues. All of this experience is important in not only identifying potential errors in your trial, but in properly arguing why that should justify you getting a second chance to obtain a more favorable result. Some of the post-trial remedies available that we can assist you with are:
If you are found guilty after a trial, you have certain appellate rights that we can assist you with pursuing. We are able to handle appeals of criminal convictions to the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, the Court of Appeals of Maryland, the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, and the United State's Supreme Court. If you pled guilty at trial, your appellate rights are significantly restricted in Maryland Courts to only asking for permission to appeal (Leave to Appeal) from the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. The success of that request will depend on whether or not you can demonstrate that your plea was improper based on specific grounds. Whether we handle your appeal or request for leave to appeal, we will exhaustively review the transcripts of your trial, and conduct in-depth legal research in an effort to successfully get you a new day in court.
If you have been convicted and wish to seek a new trial, we can file the appropriate legal motions and conduct a new trial hearing in an attempt to get your guilty verdict set aside. This involves convincing the trial judge that heard your case the first time that was there was some legal error that requires the judge to order a new trial without the necessity of seeking a reversal of that court's decision by an appellate court.
In addition to your right of appeal from the trial, post-conviction proceedings can provide a mechanism to someone who has received an unfavorable verdict and sentence. During these proceedings, many issues concerning your initial trial can be attacked including the adequacy of the legal representation you received at that trial. We can also, if you pursued an appeal, examine and challenge the adequacy of the legal representation you received on appeal. If the court were to find in your favor on a legal issue at the post-conviction hearing, depending on the type of issue you could receive such remedies as the right to pursue an appeal, a new sentencing hearing, or even a new trial.
When a judge imposes a sentence on you after a finding of guilt on a criminal offense, you have the ability to ask that judge to reconsider the sentence at a later date in the future. At that time, the judge could reduce your sentence if the judge was persuaded that there are reasons justifying such a change.
If a judge has imposed a sentence of incarceration of more than 2 years in your case, you are entitled in certain situations to a review of that sentence by a panel made up of 3 or more Circuit Court judges. Those judges would have the power to decrease or increase your sentence, so consulting with experienced criminal defense attorneys is necessary to decide whether that is an option you should pursue.
All of the post-trial measures listed above must be exercised within a specified period of time after the verdict and/or sentence or the right to pursue those measures will be deemed to have been waived. As such, contacting our Firm immediately in order to obtain a consultation regarding the specific situation you are faced with is critical.
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