LOS ANGELES CRIMINAL APPEAL ATTORNEY – VAN NUYS CRIMINAL APPEAL ATTORNEY – SAN FERNANDO CRIMINAL APPEAL ATTORNEY

“THERE IS STILL HOPE AND A CONVICTION.”

Seymour I. Amster is a successful appellate attorney who is able to find justice where others could not and win the cases that others did not. Attorney Amster utilizes his skills learned and developed as a Criminal Law Specialist to devise a strategy that will enhance the chance of success in challenging a conviction or reducing a sentence.

Attorney Amster brings a team or professionals to attack the injustice imposed in his appellate cases. His team consists of paralegals and investigators. With this team approach the records of the case as well as trial counsel and the court file is taken apart. Attorney Amster and his team painstakingly reviews the record and reports to make sure no stone is unturned.

But Team Amster does not stop there. That is only the beginning. The case is investigated by experienced private investigators who work with Team Amster. The investigator works under the direction of Attorney Amster and they go out and interview witnesses. Not just the witnesses who testified at the trial of the case but also the witnesses who should have testified but did not because the defense attorney did not make arrangements for them to testify at trial.

With this information Team Amster challenges the conviction through the use of Writs and appeals. Attorney Amster is intimately involved with the process at each stage and is the final author of all documents filed on the behalf of the client.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN APPEAL AND A WRIT

A conviction after a trial should be attacked with the use of an Appeal and a writ. There are time limits of when an appeal and a writ can be filed, that is why it is so important that as soon as possible after a conviction an experienced appellate attorney like Attorney Amster start to work on the case.

An appeal challenges the conviction by challenging what occurred during the trial or other hearings. Such as the wrong jury instructions were given. Or the judge should have allowed evidence to be heard that he refused to allow to be presented by the defense. Or the judge allowed the prosecution to present evidence that should not have been presented by them. Or the prosecution argued the case in an improper manner to the jury. The court should not have allowed the defendant’s statement to the police to have been used, or should have granted a motion to suppress evidence. Or other issues that occurred in the courtroom. That are readily identifiable by just reviewing the record from the trial.

A Writ challenges the conviction by challenging what did not occur during the trial or other hearings. It primarily challenges the job the defense attorney did or more importantly did not do. The performance of the defense attorney is challenged. The witnesses he refused to interview or did interview but did not call at trial for no good reason. The motions he did not file. The arguments he did not make, the jury instructions he did not request the jury to hear.

But a Writ does not stop there. The actions of the prosecution is also examined. The discovery the prosecution did not turn over but should have, the witnesses the prosecution knew about but did not mention, the secret deals the prosecution made with witnesses but did not disclose. All of these actions are grounds to challenge the conviction.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FEDERAL COURT AND STATE COURT

The attack on a conviction starts in the state courts. The issues that exist must first be presented to a state court before it can be filed in a Federal Court. A conviction can be challenged in state court by reason of the fact that it violates the United States Constitution, California Constitution, or a law in California.

Before the conviction can be challenged in a Federal Court, the California Supreme Court must be given an opportunity to look at the issue. Once the California Supreme Court is finished looking at the issues , the conviction can be challenged in Federal Court.

A conviction can only be challenged in Federal Court by reason of the fact that it violates the United States Constitution. This is why it is so important to have a Criminal Law Specialist, such as Attorney Amster, handle the post conviction proceedings. Because an experienced attorney like Attorney Amster will know how to frame a violation of the California Constitution, or a law in California into a violation of the United States Constitution , if it is possible. Another attorney might not know how to do this. Unless the issue is “Federalized” , making it into a violation of the United States Constitution, the first time the issue is raised, the right to bring the issue before the Federal Courts will be lost, possibly forever.

Historically more convictions are overturned in the Federal Courts than in the California Courts. That is why it is so important to “Federalize” an issue. Because this will increase the chances of obtaining the right result.

ATTACKING JUST THE NUMBER OF YEARS A PERSON WAS SENTENCED TOO.

Many times all the clients want to accomplish is to reduce the number of years the loved one has to serve in prison. Groundbreaking law is occurring in this area, restoring hope in cases long lost. The United States Supreme Court has recently decided a series of cases that allow many sentences to be challenged. Attorney Amster has made himself aware of all the new legal concepts these cases have espoused. In fact Attorney Amster has already used these new legal concepts to reduce the sentences several of his clients were facing.

The other ways to challenge sentences as well. Many times the attorneys representing the defendant at the sentencing hearing did not do a proper job. They did not review nor properly challenge a past conviction that was used to cause a person to serve a longer sentence than he should have received. This may include not properly challenging a strike. Or agreeing that a conviction was a strike when in fact it was not.

PAROLE HEARINGS.

Attorney Amster uses the team approach for parole hearings as well. His team throughly goes over the records on the parole hearings he is retained to handle. Attorney Amster does not do the parole hearings himself, instead he has attorneys who are not only highly experienced in parole hearings but are respected by the members of the parole board handle the parole hearings.

Recently this team approach brought miricalous result for the client. The client was on parole he was charged with a new case of committing a robbery. Attorney Amster represented the client in the new case, and was able to have the robbery charged dismissed by a judge. The client then had to face a parole hearing. Team Amster went into action again. The result, the charges were dismissed at the parole hearing.

OTHER VICTORIES :

A defendant was charged with carjacking, and robbing a store. He also was a gang member. He was sentenced to a life sentence. Attorney Amster was able to successfully reduced the sentence from a life sentence.

A judge denied a motion to suppress evidence. Attorney Amster appealed the ruling persuaded the appellate court to suppress the evidence and the conviction was reversed.