Criminal Post Conviction Lawyers in Orlando

Orlando Post-Conviction Attorneys

When you have been charged with a criminal offense and you have been sentenced or convicted, your fight for justice may not be over yet. You can vacate a conviction in Florida or overturn a judgment and sentence in Florida. There are many options to explore even after a judgment has been passed that is unfavorable to you. These options may allow you to establish your innocence and mitigate the sentence/ conviction or overturn it. Contact our Orlando Florida Post Conviction attorneys at (407) 388-1900.

The criminal appeals lawyers in Orlando at our law firm handle federal writs and state court post conviction relief petitions in Florida. 

Appealing against a criminal sentence or conviction is not an easy task and there are several critical factors to consider. These factors may impact the success of your Florida appeal.  You may want to gather all the information in the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure. For example, there are time limits for filing your appeal and once this window of opportunity is closed, you may not have any other recourse. Talking to an experienced Orlando criminal attorney in time ensures that you are aware of all these requirements and you also get the assistance you need to file a most effective appeal against the previous judgment.

Apart from direct appeal in Florida, you also have several post conviction relief options to consider. The PCR is very similar to a post trial motion because it is filed with a trial court too instead of with the appeals court. Typically, it is filed after a direct appeal has been filed and lost. The purpose of these motions is to give the defendant an opportunity to bring to light the issues that were ambiguous in the original case. The primary responsibility to make the Florida post- conviction motion successful depends heavily on the defendant. This is exactly why hiring a competent, highly experienced Orlando post- conviction lawyer is the best thing to do when filing such motions since it enhances the chances of success.  Connect with our lead criminal appellate attorney in Florida, Robert Sirianni.

Post Conviction Relief Motion in Orlando Florida

Orlando post-conviction relief may be available if there was an error in the trial or hearing that resulted in an unfavorable conviction. We file post-conviction motions such as 3.800, 3.850, and writs of habeas corpus. The Orlando post-conviction relief attorneys also handle complex federal appeals to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal. A defendant may move to vacate, set aside, or correct the judgment or sentence in a criminal case. Orlando post-conviction litigation is a unique legal area that may be available to those who have been convicted of a crime, after appeal rights have been exhausted. You may also qualify to withdraw your plea. Contact our orlando post-conviction lawyers at (407) 388-1900. Under statute, a person convicted of a crime may file a motion to vacate conviction and/or sentence requesting a new trial or sentencing. There are various grounds to withdraw your plea or for post-conviction grounds which include the following reasons:

  • INEFFECTIVE COUNSEL
  • THE CONVICTION AND SENTENCE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

3.850 post-conviction litigation requires scrutiny which involves a complete investigation of the case. We normally obtain a trial transcript to brief a 3.850 Motion or claim. We must review trial dockets, evidence, exhibits, and notes from the clerk and any record on appeal. Post-conviction investigation also often includes locating and interviewing witnesses and co-defendants. In some cases, mitigating evidence that was not presented during trial may offer insight in a post-conviction litigation case. DNA testing and new technology also offers support for a new trial or hearing.

If your trial counsel was ineffective you may motion the court to withdraw your plea or vacate and set aside your trial. There are numerous areas of ineffective counsel that can be raised on a 3.850 motion for post-conviction relief in Florida. If your trial counsel provided you with ineffective or deficient performance at your plea or during trial contact us at (407) 388-1900 immediately as you may only have 2 years to file a motion for post-conviction relief in Florida. We also handle Jacksonville post-conviction appeals, Miami post-conviction appeals, Tallahassee post-conviction appeals, and Tampa post-conviction appeals.  Return to the criminal post conviction attorneys in Florida page.

3.850 Criminal Motions for Post Conviction Relief

Sometimes a court may deny a motion for post conviction relief without a hearing. In that case, the defendant may file a direct appeal of the denial. However, the brief is due within 15 days of from the filing of the notice of appeal. This is a quick procedure and most appeal of a summary denial of a rule 3.850 claim are difficult to litigation on appeal. However, if a defendant wins an appeal, they may be entitled to an evidentiary hearing in the trial court below.

Orlando Post Conviction Process

Defense counsel’s strategic choices do not constitute deficient conduct if alternative courses of action have been considered and rejected. Moreover, “to establish prejudice [a defendant] ‘must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.’”  (quoting Brown v. State, 755 So. 2d 616, 628 (Fla. 2000), and Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 394, 146 L. Ed. 2d 389, 120 S. Ct. 1495 (2000)). Under Florida law, Strategic decisions do not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel if alternative courses have been considered and rejected and counsel’s decision was reasonable under the norms of professional conduct.  The United States guarantees each defendant in a criminal prosecution the right to the effective assistance of counsel.  See U.S. Constit., Amend. VI.  The fundamental right to the effective assistance of counsel is recognized not for its own sake, but because of the effect it has on the ability of the accused to receive Due Process of Law in an adversarial system of justice. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 658 (1984). The United States Supreme Court has held that “[t]he benchmark of judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial [court] cannot be relied on having produced a just result.”  Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 686 (1984).  Under the Strickland standard, ineffective assistance of counsel is made out when the defendant shows that (1) the trial counsel’s performance was deficient, i.e. that he or she made errors so egregious that they failed to function as the “counsel guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment,” and (2) the deficient performance prejudiced the defendant enough to deprive him of due process of law.  Id. at 687. Read more about Florida post conviction petitions under Rule 3.850: Florida Post Conviction Motion

Contact Robert Sirianni our Orlando post conviction relief attorney at (407) 388-1900.

Our firm also handles federal writs of habeas corpus under 2254 and 2255.

Newly discovered evidence may be grounds for relief where the facts on which the claim is predicated were unknown to the trial court, the moving party, or counsel at the time of trial, and could not have been ascertained by the party or his or her counsel in the exercise of due diligence. Newly discovered evidence is the type of evidence that would probably produce an acquittal on re-trial, thus entitle a defendant to a new trial, if it weakens the case against the defendant so as to give rise to a reasonable doubt as to his or her culpability. For purposes of Orlando post-conviction relief proceedings, “newly discovered evidence,” by its very nature, is evidence that existed but was unknown at time of sentencing. Return to our Florida post conviction information page: Florida Post Conviction Attorneys.

Such evidence:

  • WAS DISCOVERED SINCE THE FORMER TRIAL
  • COULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED EARLIER THROUGH THE EXERCISE OF DUE DILIGENCE
  • IS MATERIAL TO THE ISSUE
  • GOES TO THE MERITS OF THE CASE AND NOT MERELY IMPEACHMENT OF THE CHARACTER OF THE WITNESS
  • MUST NOT BE MERELY CUMULATIVE
  • MUST BE SUCH THAT IT WOULD PROBABLY PRODUCE A DIFFERENT RESULT ON RETRIAL

Email our 3.850 post conviction lawyers in Orlando Florida or call (407) 388-1900.

Criminal Appeals Attorneys in Orlando