Trials and Appeals.

Services

Trials & Appeals Defense

Leslie defends Clients both at trial and on appeal.

cases

Defense Experience

Leslie has tried dozens of cases in her career. She has also handled more than 50 cases on appeal before the Georgia Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals of Georgia, and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

cases

Defense Experience

Leslie has tried dozens of cases in her career. She has also handled more than 50 cases on appeal before the Georgia Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals of Georgia, and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

FAQs

Learn More About Trials and Appeals Defense in Athens, GA

What is a trial?

Just like you see on television and in the movies, a trial is a court proceeding where either a jury or a judge alone decides whether a person committed a crime. In Georgia, when a person has a felony trial, the jury will have 12 people; in a misdemeanor trial, the jury will have 6 people. If a person does not want to have a jury trial, then a judge can decide the case. This is called bench trial.

What is an appeal?

When a person is convicted, or if they receive an adverse ruling in a trial court, they can ask another, higher court to look at legal or factual issues to decide if the trial court made a mistake. The higher court is called an appellate court, and the process is called an appeal. In an appeal, you are appealing to the higher court to make a different decision than the trial court made.

What is a motion for new trial?

If a person is convicted after a trial, typically the first stage of appeal is to file a motion for new trial. With this motion, the person is literally asking the court for a new trial. To get a new trial, the person has to show that a legal error occurred that would allow a new trial. Like in a game, you can’t get a do-over on a play unless something happened in violation of the rules. To get a new trial, you have to show that something happened during the trial that violated the legal rules applied in the particular case.