Appellate Division

The direct appeal of a trial court verdict is a right in Ohio.

Our Appellate Division provides representation to indigent clients who want to appeal a trial verdict of the Municipal Court (misdemeanors) and the Common Pleas Court (felonies) in Hamilton County, Ohio.   We also stand ready to assist the Juvenile and GAL divisions and handle any overflow appeals from those divisions.

The Appellate Division’s mission is:

• To ensure that the constitutional rights of citizens are preserved and protected.
• To ensure that the trial or guilty-plea process was fair and legal.
• To monitor and provide quality control for the criminal judicial process.

The referrals to the Appellate Division come from clients who previously had been represented through the Law Office of the Public Defender.

After filing a Notice of Appeal, our appellate attorneys:

• Review the transcript of the trial;
• Interview the clients;
• Conduct research to identify problems that occurred at trial.

The Appellate Division also regularly provides:

• Assistance to all staff attorneys;
• Assistance to panel attorneys in the Juvenile, Municipal, and Common Pleas Courts
• Research to answer questions of staff and panel attorneys that arise while in trial
• Weekly updates and synopses of recent state and federal appellate decisions to staff and panel attorneys.

The Division is dedicated to ensuring that its attorneys provide the highest quality of representation. Our attorneys receive training and mentoring at both the state and the national level, as well as in-house with the support of our training co-ordinator.