Criminal Lawyers for Appeals

If you have been convicted of a criminal offence, that does not necessarily end your criminal matter.

In Canada, we have an appeal process to assure any mistakes made by the lower Court’s are addressed.  Typically this means that if a trial Judge was not correct in the application of the law or misconstrued evidence before the Court during a trial, a higher level of Court can overturn a conviction or order a new trial.

There are three levels of Court in Alberta:

• Provincial Court
• Court of Queen’s Bench
• Court of Appeal

Typically if grounds of appeal present themselves, one would appear to the higher level court to review the lower Courts decision.  In addition to the three levels of Court in Alberta, there is a fourth level of Court the Supreme Court of Canada.  The Supreme Court of Canada is located in Ottawa, Ontario and typically deals with matters of national importance.

In order to appeal a matter to the Supreme Court of Canada one usually needs leave from the Supreme Court or have an appeal as of right.

An appeal is not the same as a trial

The primary difference between the two is that no new evidence is presented during an appeal.  Appeals are argued on the evidence that was presented at the trial level.  This means that to conduct an appeal, one must order transcripts of the trial from the lower Court.  Written arguments, called factums, are then generated by the defence and Crown that are then submitted to the Court.  To be successful with appeal work, you need specialized skills over and above from being a trial lawyer.  At Capital City Law, our lawyers have represented appeals for clients at all levels of Court in Alberta as well as at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Should you feel like there was an error made during your trial, you need to contact a criminal lawyer to review your conviction.  At Capital City Law, we will make sure your right to appeal is upheld and advance the best arguments on your behalf.