Obtaining copies of video evidence.

[KatieBruno]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

A man was arrested and tried for felonious assalt against a police officer with his car while fleeing the scene of a dui. Video evidence was introduced just before the proceedings. The defendent did not have any knowledge of the video evidence did not have a chance to review the evidence before it was presented. He believes the evidence may be helpful on appeal. He would now like to obtain a copy of the video evidence used against him. What is the procedure? This took place in Stark County.

[CdwJava]

His attorney can obtain it ... but, what is the grounds for his appeal? One cannot appeal simply because they dislike the sentence. And generally appeals are based upon the record - evidence is not introduced. Any objection to the video should have been raised at trial. What does he think is on the video that will show that somehow his trial was unfair?


- carl

[KatieBruno]

The defendent believes that the video tape actually conflicts with the testimony given by the police officers in court. His attorney has been very uncooperative. He met with the man for only 45 minutes pretrail, recommended no jury, and did not know that videotape would be submitted as evidence. The attorney has refused to file appeals.

I have read the transcript of the initial court proceedings and find them very disturbing. It appears that his attorney was not prepared or unwilling to defend him properly. Although he is not contesting the DUI charges, he would like to appeal the two felonious assault charges. For that, he would like to have the opportunity to have the videotape independently examined.

[CdwJava]

A succcessful appeal without an attorney is very unlikely. And, just so you know, I believe that the number of cases that are successful on appeal is about 5% or so. It is difficult to make a case of incompetent counsel stick.

To obtain a copy of the tape he will almost certainly need to engage the services of another attorney.

There is a semi-regular poster here who is an attorney from Ohio, perhaps she can give some better direction if she happens along.

- Carl

[tranquility]

Inadequate assistance of counsel is a possible grounds for appeal. If your attorney did not get a copy of a video recording of the event through discovery before trial, you may have an issue. My goodness, a police video of the crime--talk about an incompetent investigation....

The appellant must submit the evidence to be used in the appeal. "The record" is not something that is internally transferred between courts of original jurisdiction and appellate level courts. What to include in the submission is part of the difficulity in this level of court.

Appeals are hard and require precise following of the rules. While possible to do it pro per, it is extremely unlikely to have good results without substantial help from knowledgeable sources. Talk to an attorney who specializes in appellate law to get his point of view regarding the specific issues involved. Be prepared to come up with a boat load of cash for the help of this expert in his specialty.