If you or a loved one has been convicted of a drug crime in Lansing, there is still a chance that the conviction can be overturned or the sentence reduced. With an experienced legal team, such as Grabel & Associates, you can file for a drug crime appeal in Lansing and see that your rights are fully protected. Here is what you need to know about drug crimes appeals in Lansing.
Drug crimes are dealt with swiftly and cleanly by the Michigan justice system. However, like all crimes, there is always room for error for all parties involved in an arrest and conviction. Being able to understand and effectively present an appeal before a court is an important tool to have when fighting a drug conviction mounted against you.
There is room for an appeal in many places throughout a case. You will need an experienced legal representative to be able to fully see those opportunities. The court may have made a mistake. Whether it was misinterpreting evidence or an oversight by the prosecution, the system itself may have failed you. If you chose an attorney or law firm that was not of an excellent quality, mistakes can be made by your own defense. Your attorney could have overlooked crucial evidence, made procedural mistakes, or mishandled your defense. Even if you feel as though your attorney was not good enough, you have ground to push for an appeal.
These oversights can often crop up in drug crimes. The nature of drug crimes is controversial and can garner public outrage quickly. Michigan lawmakers have made a strong push in recent years to crack down on drugs in the state. In particular, they have gone to great lengths to punish the manufacture, sale, or transportation of drugs.
This can lead to you facing charges you are not necessarily guilty of. Prosecutors in particular make strong efforts to lock up those accused of drug crimes. It is common for max sentencing to be pursued in these matters. They do not purposely want to put away innocent people, but they are human and can make mistakes.
Particular drugs can also stimulate harsher-than-average reactions from the courts. For instance, Michigan is very focused upon reducing prescription drug abuse. Most prescription drugs are created to treat medical conditions and their side-effects (if any) are fairly tame. If this medication is abused though, it can simulate effects that are similar to harder drugs. These drugs are hard to keep up with as new versions of prescription drugs are being made every day.
For example, OxyContin is a popular pain killer that is still used by large hospitals. No longer widely given out in prescription form, offenders are still finding ways to get these drugs into the hands of abusers. For this reason, the courts will move quickly to get a conviction and put the offender away.
If you feel as though you have received an unfair sentence, the evidence of your case was not fully considered, or errors were made in your case you should reach out to an experienced appeals attorney as soon as possible.
The simplest request in the appeals process is to merely appeal the length of your conviction. With this kind of appeal, you will be attempting to argue that the sentencing given in your case was excessive. It certainly would not be the first time that someone was put away on a harsh sentence. This happens frequently with cases involving controversial problems like children, drugs, or murder.
It is possible to make a motion to withdraw or invalidate your plea if you plead guilty. The condition that would validate this claim is only if the prosecutors did not honor a deal made in exchange for your plea. If the prosecutor made you a deal (e.g. reduced sentencing) for a guilty plea, and they did not honor that agreement, you have ground to withdraw a guilty plea and perhaps up end the conviction altogether.
There are also options to restart your trial or begin another one. If there is new evidence that has not been considered in court or new information has come to light, there are certainly ground to appeal for a continuation of your case. The other option is called a Ginther hearing. Ginther hearings are an appeal to the courts that your legal counsel was inadequate to protect your innocence.
You may also appeal to have your record expunged after you serve out your conviction. This will allow you to pay your dues to society and then be able to carry on as a citizen without the stigma of being a convict. Juvenile court cases are often very open to these sorts of appeals, not wanting to taint a life so early, but it is certainly possible for an adult to receive this as well.
If you live in Bryon, Perry, New Lothrop, Pinckney, Hamburg Township, Whitmore Lake or in any other city in Livingston or Shiawassee Counties, then you are part of the Fourth District of Appeals and will need to file your paperwork with the Clerk's Office located in Lansing. There are four Clerk Office districts total. Check out this map for more information.
The address for the Lansing Court of Appeals is here:
Hall of Justice
925 W. Ottawa St.
P.O. Box 30022
Lansing, MI 48909
District Clerk's number: (517)373-0786
District Commissioner's Office: (517)373-0786
To get to the courtroom and Clerk's Office, go to the second floor.
Appealing your case should be an immediate option if you find yourself wrongfully convicted of a crime. To successfully win an appeal on your drug conviction, you will need an experienced drug crime attorney who has faced and won appeals cases before.
The attorneys of Grabel & Associates has decades of drug crimes experience. Our post-conviction representation is aggressive and well-planned. We will analyze court documents, review the histories of prosecutors and judges for bias, and look at every piece of evidence examined to help you argue your appeal. Contact the attorneys of Grabel & Associates for a free consultation at 1-800-342-7896 or contacts us online.