If you were wrongly convicted of a serious crime...

Originally Posted by phillipchristian

Saul's got a mullet. He means business in the front, party in the back.

Couldn't resist. cn

***Like***

I know a inmate in Cali prison (I won't use his name) but here's his story.

He was convicted of the 1st degree murder of his business partner, although they never found a body. He swears the guy is alive in south america.
His family had money(retired millionars) & they hired him good lawyers. After several years of him telling me he had appeals going & that he would get a new trial. Sure enough after 7 years the appeals court overturned his conviction!

The DA offered him a deal before re-trial. Plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter & do 2 more years. He turned it down & went to trial. They re-convicted him, sentenced to 25 to life. He would have been out about 10 years ago. He's still sitting in a cell in Folsom prison.
Sometimes even if your innocent, taking the deal might be better.

But remember you can't appeal a deal!
Good luck

peace
doublejj

Well you really don't have many choices in that situation. You just protest your innocence, try to come up with some evidence in your defense and appeal.

Appeal and hope one day the real criminal will be found.
Should that happen I'd start reading the "Islands for sale" - brochure and personally check every tropical one.

I'd rather not cost people time and money arguing my case. I would try to just behave myself and show I'm a decent kid and casually tell whoever I can 'you know I didn't do anything right?' I've found the less fuss I make, the more open/honest I am and the less I act like I have something to hide/prove, the more authority lets things slide with me. That's how things have worked out with me and the police so far at least. If I'm already in there I'd probably be more passive and thinking about the worst case scenario but hoping for the best. If I was fighting my case or waiting for the slaughter on the outside, however, I'd probably be kicking and screaming a whole lot more. If I was already inside, I'd be thinking 'I am already fucked, everything of mine is already gone, going or on hold.'

But the question is what is the right thing to do... I don't want to cost the state loads of money for one person. If I can't persuade people from the inside, or I'm not confident I could appeal successfully, I get put down like a dog, I guess. Innocent people die every day. Why should anyone care about, or pay for, my freedom...

Edit: Not sure about the real perpetrator being at large. I guess I could offer to help them find who actually did it of I have any legitimate evidence? I don't know.

Originally Posted by phillipchristian

Saul's got a mullet. He means business.

In front.

But the party is in back.

Originally Posted by dam612

apparently the lawyer wasnt that good, these days its hard to get convicted without a massive amount of physical evidence that can 100% place you at the scene. if you werent there/didnt do it no evidence should be yours....

Absolutely correct.

Originally Posted by dam612

but you would be an idiot to not appeal if you were wrongly placed in jail, worst thing that can happen is they say no

Appeals do not argue the merits of the case. The Appeals process is used to determine whether proper legal procedure was followed. So unless there is cause for an appeal, it would likely get turned down by the Appellate Court.

So short of new evidence exonerating the convicted, even a successful Appeal would most likely just result in a new trial.

However, having made that statement, a convicted individual should try to appeal anyway assuming one has the means to do so. The Appeals process is crazy expensive even by legal standards.