What is the procedure if the court "forgets" your case?

[adjusterjack]

Is this the form you filled out?

http://www.courtswv.gov/lower-courts/magistrate-forms/Petition_For_Appeal_Of_Bench_Trial _SCA_M111_1.pdf

If yes, did you serve a copy on the prosecutor as per the certificate of service on the bottom of the page?

Apologies if we appear brusque or accusatory. We're just trying to figure out, step by step, where a slip-up might have occurred.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Will they drop this as they seem to be at fault for not taking the next step in any kind of timely manner?

Not quite that simple. You were convicted of the offense and that conviction remains until vacated or overturned by the trial court or the appeal court. In other words, you'll have to do something to address the conviction if you want it removed. If you didn't complete everything needed for the appeal it's possible it's too late now to fix it and the conviction may stand. If the courts messed it up then I see one of two possible ways it would go. One might be a reversal of the conviction and the other is that they simply hear your appeal now. You should have followed up 30 days after you filed the appeal if you hadn't heard anything. In any event, you probably need to see an attorney who does post conviction relief to see what you can do from here.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

I don't know the procedure in West Virginia. I do know the procedure in Mass.

As a public defender, I am required to appeal any time one of my appointed clients is found guilty. I file a notice of appeal and order a transcript. I also coordinate with the public defender's office (Committee for Public Counsel Services or CPCS) to get an appellate lawyer appointed. Once the transcript is completed, the District Court transmits the docket to the Appeals Court. When that happens, the appellant (not me anymore - it's the appeals lawyer's case at this point) gets a notice that the appeal has been docketed, and to file a docketing statement. If that's not done within the correct timeframe, the appeal is dismissed. Once the docketing statement is filed, the appellant files a brief (again, within a certain timeframe). If not filed on time, the appeal is dismissed.

So it this happened in Mass, your appeal would have been dismissed. It appears in Mass, the lower court's docket reflects that the appeal has been dismissed.

 

[quincy]

It sounds as if some necessary procedural steps were missed, kmartin173.

It would be smart for you to have an attorney in your area review the court files to learn the status of your case. I would not be surprised that you learn you have some leftover business to take care of with your misdemeanor and that your appeal was dismissed.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Your friend probably only checked the records of the magistrate's court. In West Virginia, there is only one appeal court — the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Once the appeal went to the Supreme Court any further records on the case would be in the Supreme Court's records. So check to see what those records show. The West Virginia rules of appellate procedure do say that if you failed to perfect your appeal — i.e. you missed a step you were required to do — the court may dismiss the appeal. If that happened, your conviction stands and it's very unlikely that now 5 years later you'll be able to go back and get your appeal now. Take the results of the records in both courts on the case to an attorney who does post conviction relief to see if you can do anything to address the conviction now and if not then you need to address whatever part of your sentence you might not have completed.

 

[doucar]

West Virginia is like Virginia where I have practiced. Any decision by a magistrate court, a court not of record, can be appealed as a matter of right to the Circuit court which is a court of record. So there would be no transcript to request. I do not know what other procedural steps might have been missed, but you should see an attorney/

 

[quincy]

West Virginia is like Virginia where I have practiced. Any decision by a magistrate court, a court not of record, can be appealed as a matter of right to the Circuit court which is a court of record. So there would be no transcript to request. I do not know what other procedural steps might have been missed, but you should see an attorney/

Thanks for the clarification on the need for a transcript, doucar. In West Virginia, the notice of appeal is filed in the Magistrate Court and would be a trial de novo in the Circuit Court.

There was a link to the process posted earlier. The Magistrate could have required a bond that kmartin failed to post.

 

[HighwayMan]

...defended myself...

Acting as your own attorney in a criminal case rarely works out well for the defendant.

...no evidence and my word against that of a convicted felon.

Well, obviously there WAS evidence since someone testified for the prosecution.

,,,the prosecutor and judge against me basically.

Obviously.

 

[quincy]

Acting as your own attorney in a criminal case rarely works out well for the defendant.



Well, obviously there WAS evidence since someone testified for the prosecution.



Obviously.

If kmartin had hired an attorney for the trial, the attorney no doubt would have attacked the credibility of the felon-witness and s/he might have had a different outcome.