Complying With The Rules

Defendants must comply with many other rules and procedures in addition to those governing the commencement of their appeal. Briefs and accompanying documents must be submitted in the format required by that jurisdiction’s appellate court rules or the clerk will not file them. Every court has different formatting requirements for appellate papers. These formatting requirements can be extremely technical, and frequently address issues such as:

• The color of the brief covers
• The number of pages a brief may contain
• The number of lines of text that may appear on each page
• The size of the typeface

It is important to consult, review and understand all of these rules before filing and serving any papers.

Additionally, some courts allow papers to be filed in hard copy, whereas others require papers to be filed electronically. The same court may require both electronic and hard copy filing and service of all papers.

Finally, and as with the Notice of Appeal, all subsequent appellate papers (briefs and accompanying materials) must be filed and served within the time frame set by the court. Failure to comply with any of these rules can result in the imposition of sanctions, which may include dismissal of the appeal.

Identifying Error

In addition to complying with all procedural rules, a defendant must be able to identify error in the trial court’s handling of the case if he or she is to be successful on appeal. Error can arise from many sources, including:

• Failure to admit or exclude evidence
• The granting or denial of a pre-trial motion
• Incorrect or incomplete jury instructions
• Improper remarks by the judge or prosecutor

Such trial errors serve as the basis for the arguments included in the appellate brief.

It is almost impossible to determine whether any particular error can be translated into appellate success without first reviewing and analyzing the trial record, which includes the pre-trial and trial transcripts and trial exhibits. Appeals that are not grounded in a thorough analysis of the lower court record will probably not be successful.

Contact a Newark Appeals Lawyer

To learn more about these issues, or to schedule an appointment to discuss your appeal, contact a New Jersey appeals attorney James S. Friedman. Call 866-484-1906 (toll free).