The Appeals Roundabout

I was watching a US television show about criminal justice, which was mainly about criminal conviction trials for murder etc. 

 Curtis Flowers - Tried 6 Times For Same Murder

It briefly touched upon one case where there had been three appeal trials ... and counting.

Now in the UK for those who lose their case, there is normally a right of appeal to a higher court, but you need to seek permission or ‘leave’ from a judge, before any appeal can be made against a conviction in a criminal case.i.e there has to be a legal reason why the conviction could reasonably be challenged.

So normally this means that there are a maximum of two possible trials, but it is possible to appeal to the European Courts, in cases where a UK courts decision apparently went against the European Convention on Human Rights, or in the past EU Laws.

In the UK, outwith of those exceptional cases that are finally determined outside of the UK courts, 19.0% of all appeals heard are successful ... which is a high figure compared with the USA. However as this figure is inclusive of all types of appeals, the actual figure for criminal convictions overturned will be very much lower ..... the UK is not as easy to get figures from, than the more transparent USA, but apparently on average (taken over a three year period), 11% of criminal conviction applications, and 25% of sentence (reduction) applications received are successful.

In the US. as a general rule, and as in the the UK, after a final judgement of the lower court, it can be appealed to the next higher court only once. However in any one case, the number of appeals available to a defendant, depends on how many courts are “superior” to the court that made the first decision.

Sometimes what the next high court decides, or what the basis for your appeal is can result in further appeals .... in other words, it can be considerably more than once. This is particularly true when you add all the 'points of law' that the defence can raise, post the initial trial result ... they don't change the sentence, but raise the likelihood of a second trial or retrial (as the link to the case of Robert Ferrante who was convicted in 2015 of murdering his wife Dr. Autumn Klein with cyanide in 2013, show).

For example, in many of the larger states, there are often three or even four levels of courts, but some of the smaller US states there are only two levels of courts. This can make your chances of ending up in prison somewhat variable, depending upon which state you are tried in, as well as the differences between the time limits, rules, and procedures. As well as being dependent upon whether the initial case was tried in a Federal court or state court. Different rules apply in each state .... so something of a lottery.

However, nationally in the US, the vast majority of appeals are unsuccessful: Fewer than 9% of total appeals in 2015 resulted in reversals of lower courts, and that the success rate on appeal in criminal cases is typically less than 7%, and less than 5% of habeas corpus motions in federal court are successful. But according to some reports, the chances of winning a criminal appeal in California are about 20%, however that doesn't mean 20% are reversed, just adjusted in some manner e.g. sentence changed (usually lowered).

So in point of fact, appeals against criminal convictions, even those resulting in a second trial (and possible release via acquittal), are very largely a waste of the courts time and public money ..... that simply drag out justice, distress the victims and or their relatives, and that doesn't often gain the defendant much more than a few days or weeks delaying the inevitable, or for some result in a change in the terms they will serve.

However there is one group who gain a lot by appeal, after appeal, point of law after point of law being raised .... yes you guessed it the Lawyers. They get paid whatever the outcome, but essentially by always launching appeal after appeal request, they maximise their profits two, three or occasionally more times. So for every criminal case they handle, they can expect to double or treble their money. 

Now name me any other occupation that gets paid equally as much for constant failure, as it does for occasional success, and that can repeatedly fail their clients, but earn double or treble their original fee?

Call me on old cynic if you like, but as most state, or government legislators (who determine how many appeals a defendant can make), are jam packed with lawyers or ex-lawyers, is that perhaps why so many appeal routes that have no high chance of success, are often allowed to go ahead?

Surely one initial trial and sentencing, then, and only if new evidence or a fatal flaw in the proceedings of the initial trial can be shown, then one further retrial can be allowed. Even that has to be within a reasonable time limit. Simply waiting until key witnesses have died, is surely just a wide boy lawyers trick, and is not justice .... talking of which.

In the case of Mr Flowers above, he was alleged to have committed shooting to death, four people inside Tardy Furniture store in Winona, seat of Montgomery County on July the 16th 1996. Flowers was first convicted in 1997, but after being imprisoned during trial after retrial, on December the 16th, 2019, a Judge granted Flowers bail in the amount of $250,000 (of which he was required to deposit 10%). The state declined to prosecute Flowers for the seventh time, officially dropping all charges against Flowers on September 4, 2020.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, barring further prosecution, and thus freeing Flowers from home custody, after the state Attorney General's office stated that it would now be nearly impossible to convict Flowers of the offences, due to the lack of any available living witnesses, who had not either recanted, or otherwise rendered their testimony unusable by making multiple conflicting statements, plus the identification of potential alternative suspects, and new potentially-exculpatory evidence.

Tardy Furniture Store Victims
- Winona Montgomery County

In March 2021, it was reported that the state of Mississippi had agreed to pay Curtis Flowers $500,000 for his nearly 23 years of 'wrongful' imprisonment, at $50k pa for 10 years .... of course whether justice has been served after all these trials, is a matter of opinion .... certainly the families of the 4 victims (Derrick "Bobo" Stewart, Robert Golden, Carmen Rigby, and Bertha Tardy), of the shootings wouldn't think so .... but they always get forgotten, don't they?