Seeking statutes on appeal without imposed sentencing

[Nakad2]

I am a student at Long Island University, and a few of my course colleagues were given an asignement. Our assignment is to try a case where we are the defendant's counsel at the end of the trail after his original lawyer recused himself by the court.

We lost the R30-30 motion and our defenant is on the run. We know our client is not guilty of the crime he was convicted. Our question is: Is there an statutes that support a filing an appeal where the imposing of sentencing can't be done?

If you know of one, please e-mail me at [email protected]. We would be greatly appreciate assistance during our learning process.

 

[Tracey]

Read the state rules of appellate procedure. An appeal notice has to be filed within 30 days or so of the verdict. Once you file the appeal notice, you have 60 days or so to request the transcript & file the opening brief. Unless you wish to raise sentencing issues, you don't need the sentencing hearing record, so you can argue that there is no need to wait for sentencing to proceed witht he appeal. In fact, if I were you, I'd make that argument, because by the time the cops catch your 'not-guilty' client, the time limits for the trial appeal will have run out. If you haven't tried to appeal & been sent down because the appeal isn't 'ripe for review', you may be considered to have waived the right to appeal the trial issues. Catch-22 indeed!

You could also file a motion to bifurcate the appeal into the trial issues & sentencing issues, again citing the need to preserve D's right to appeal both the trial & sentencing. You'd have to just make it up under the general motion rules. There's probably not a rule addressing this scenario.

------------------
This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws. [email protected] - please include some facts so I know who you are!