how often does someone win an appell if no oral argument is heard by the appellate court in drug cases for WA?

Question

my husband was convicted of 3 felony drug charges he is out on appeal and has been for almost a year, his hearing is scheduled for november and they have determined they can decide without oral argument, staticaly what are the odds of winning his appeal or at least granted a new trial without the oral. he was already in prison and had been for 4 months and they let him out pending appeal with no stipulations and without havin to post bond, that has never happened in the state of Washington, He was convicted without being able to confront his accusser and the judge admited in open court that he could not place him at the residence at the time of the alleged manufacturing but he was sure at some time in his life he had manufactured so he was finding him guilty, can someone give me some idea of what to expect statically

Answer 1

In appeal, the entire record of the case is before the Appellate court and no further evidence is required to be lead. The court can decide the case after going through the entire record even if oral arguments were not advanced.

Answer 2

It's not so much whether oral arguments are held. In most cases the appellate decisions is made based on the legal briefs, and very rarely does the oral arguments change that tentative outcome.

Also, the facts of the case are usually not relevant. Almost all appeals get resolved on questions of pure law, with a small percentage get resolved on applications of law to established facts.

Overall, however, somewhere between 75% and 90% of all trial convictions survive appeal. So, not good odds for reversal.

That being said, an admission by the judge that he was being convicted not for this offense, but based on the probably that he had committed other offenses in the past -- that is not only grounds for reversal, if true that is grounds for sanctioning the judge.

Answer 3

Did your husband plead no contest? Why was no jury involved?

Meth is bad, mmkay?
Crack is bad, mmkay?

It sounds like you have little or no funds and a poor lawyer tried to say that your husband not being there when the cops kicked in the door meant that someone broke in and made a meth lab.

If you spend the money, and the court did not follow proper procedure, you might get lucky. The better the lawyer, the better the odds. Try to find someone who the appellate judge plays golf with.

Without money, I'm afraid, you're going to be a very lonely woman for the next several years.

Answer 4

Sounds like the appeals court is about to throw out the verdict and let your husband go.

{EDIT}The appeals court may not have the authority to sanction the judge. You may have to file a complaint with the sanctioning body that oversees judicial competence in WA.

http://www.cjc.state.wa.us/

Answer 5

unless you have overwelming evidence to contradict the courts findings your chances are 1 in 250,000