In law, an appeal is a process for requesting a formal change to an official decision. The appeals process in California, as well as other states, can be long and arduous. Appealing a decision usually depends upon incredibly technical matters of the law, or some perceived mistake made by an attorney, the jury or the judge. Appeals often involve highly contentious matters, as was the case recently in a matter involving an 8th grade student who was strip searched at her school.
The student was thought to be giving away prescription strength ibuprofen and in order to investigate the matter fully, a school administrator made her strip naked. At first, the school's decision was upheld, but it wasn't until the case was appealed that the Ninth Circuit Federal Court ruled that the girl's 4th Amendment rights (protecting her against unreasonable search and seizure) were violated.
Appealing a matter can take time, money and patience, especially if it's a criminal matter and the convicted individual is sitting in jail. An appeal must be filed within 60 days of a decision, if the convicted individuals isn't aware of this, it could be A court must look over the evidence of the previous trial to see if the appeal is genuine and legitimate, and then the process must be given the go-ahead. The appeal can be in regard to, among others:
- the length of the sentence;
- jury instructions, which may have confused the jurors; and
- evidence not being entered properly, or being contaminated.
