Exam 11: The Right to Appeal and the Appellate Process

Which is a common due-process argument in appeals?

This is the right to initiate a legal action.

This is a settled matter that cannot be judged again.

Like trial courts, appellate courts deal with pretrial hearings, rulings on objections, giving jury instructions, and issuing verdicts.

These appeals ask a state high court or the Supreme Court to review a possible error of law in the trial court and the intermediate court's ruling on it.

Neither the Constitution nor the Supreme Court has declared the right to appeal a criminal conviction.

According to the text, fewer than 10 percent of those convicted or imprisoned have their case heard on appeal.

This is a panel of about three judges who listen to the same case.

Appellate courts rule only on the case before them and never include in their ruling a new legal doctrine that becomes precedent or a nullification of an existing law.

This appeal is made before or during a trial and seeks to clarify an important issue that may affect the case-in-chief and cannot effectively be addressed after the trial.

This is when the court rules that there was no serious constitutional violation in the trial and the conviction and sentence will remain in place.

Which is not a condition that must be met for a first appeal?

Here, the petitioner argues that in the trial there was a violation of constitutional rights and that the violation was substantial, material, or prejudicial.

Which of the following may increase the likelihood of some courts accepting a discretionary appeal petition and granting certiorari?

The Supreme Court has ruled that states that grant the right of appeal must make it available to everyone by providing counsel for the first appeal.

These decisions generally deal with issues that the court does not view as controversial because they have been settled in earlier cases.

A whole new trial that excludes any illegal evidence that was introduced in the first trial is called a _______.

Because a defendant is granted only one _____, or mandatory appeal, such cases often argue multiple points of law because this may be the only chance to have them reviewed.

An appellate court never hears new evidence even if it rules that there was substantial error or a "clearly erroneous ruling" at the trial level.

This categorization scheme divides appeals into appeals that come directly from a trial court after sentencing and appeals come either before the end of a trial or after other appeals have been attempted.