Usually, you’ll have up to 30 days to make an appeal after sentencing. A sentence appeal lawyer can help you with this.
Anyway, once you defy or appeal the provincial court’s ruling, it goes to the Supreme court.
After that, your case will reach the Court of Appeal. Finally, your appeal will be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada.
Keep reading if you want further information about the appeal rules.
Appeal Process In Canada: Everything You Need to Know
People have the legal right to make requests to review their trial’s decision. Additionally, any party involved in a case can formally ask the provincial court to do that. That is, in other words, appealing.
Usually, an appeal involves clarifying the law and correcting errors. If a court has declared you guilty or accused of a crime, you can appeal the verdict and have your case reassessed by a higher court.
The Right and Leave to Appeal
“Leave to appeal” is the term for permission to appeal. The right to appeal is applicable in some situations automatically. In some cases, a court order might be necessary.
The courts have the power to reject an appeal. However, the statute grants the right to appeal. To make an appeal for sentencing, you have a Leave. Furthermore, the majority of the supreme court appeals require to Leave.
If you are accused of a summary offence or indictable crime, you can appeal on some specific ground. Furthermore, both the Crows and the accused can appeal.
Only the crown has the right to question the law. Moreover, if it’s a summary conviction, the Crown can appeal for reviews of the evidence.
How Does the Appeal Process Work In Canada?
The structure of the Appeal court is different from the Trial court. The appeal court doesn’t re-evaluate the evidence directly.
Instead of focusing on the trial court’s decision, the Appeal court reviews the evidence and testimonies. But the Appeal court has the power to check for errors. And several judges will be there in the appeal process.
If you decide to appeal, your lawyer will identify how the relevant statutes affect your circumstance. Besides, the appeals court has the authority to modify the Trails court’s judgment and reaffirm the trial court’s ruling.
Once the Appeal court finds any issue in the first trial, they will mandate a re-trial. Note that the appeal court doesn’t review all the cases they receive. Any case that has any serious societal implications gets reassessed. Also, keep in mind that the rules vary among provinces.
3 Levels of Appeal
- Summary Conviction Appeal: When you are convicted of a summary offence, you can ask for a summary conviction appeal.
- Provincial Court of Appeal: In this court, three judges handle all the appeals of a province. Most of the time, appeal cases go beyond the provincial appeal court. Nevertheless, if there truly is any issue with your case, it will reach the supreme court.
- Appeal in Supreme Court of Canada: There will be 9 judges from different provinces to review the appeals. And this court only looks into cases that need national direction. One of the main tasks of the Supreme court is to check the legal differences. This is mainly done to review the legal system of your province. And whatever the supreme court decides for your case, you can’t appeal to change that decision.
What Basis Can You Appeal?
If you think that judge made a mistake, it’s not enough to make an appeal. You can appeal in the following circumstances:
- Misinterpretation of a law
- Inappropriate punishments
- Wrong duration of punishment
Will the Judge Who Sentenced You Review Your Appeal?
There will be different judges to review your appeal. In fact, the judge in the appeal process will be from the supreme court. And what the new judge will decide has nothing to do with your first judge.
Will the Judge Hear You Again in the Appeal Process?
No. Your lawyer will represent you in court, and you will just listen. That means the appeal court judge won’t hear what you and your witnesses have to say. The decision will be purely based on the evidence, transcripts, and relevant documents provided.
Final Remarks On the Appeal Process
You should talk to a lawyer if you think you can make an appeal. The lawyer can confirm if you should appeal. The appeal process costs you $600 to $2000, so it’s better to consult a lawyer.
If your lawyer identifies any mistake in the ruling, you have to submit a bundle of documents again. Next, the court will give you essential documents like a transcript and exhibits of your first trial.
After that, your lawyer will make a written document explaining why the ruling was incorrect or why you need another trial.