Title: Why Appeals in Death Penalty Cases Take So Long | Lawyers.com
Headings: Why Appeals in Death Penalty Cases Take So Long
Why Appeals in Death Penalty Cases Take So Long
The Typical Path of State Criminal Appeals
Appealing a State Court Conviction: A Direct Appeal
Appealing a State Court Conviction: Filing a Writ of Habeas Corpus
Appealing a State Court Conviction: Going to Federal Court
The Typical Path of Federal Criminal Appeals
Death Penalty Appeals
Delays Caused by the State
Is the Long Appeals Process a Waste of Time?
Questions for Your Lawyer

Content: Death penalty appeals leave no stone unturned simply because the stakes are so high, and to state the obvious, a mistaken execution cannot be corrected later. Defendants who are sentenced to death spend years, even decades, behind bars, awaiting a sentence that might never be carried out. That waiting period has two phases: ( 1) Time spent pursuing appeals and writs (a type of appeal), attempting to reverse the conviction, if not the sentence; and (2) after all appeals have been exhausted (and lost), time spent waiting for the sentence to be carried out. This article examines the first phase: Why does it take many years to complete the appeals process for death penalty cases, when non-death cases take a fraction of that time? Death penalty appeals leave no stone unturned simply because the stakes are so high, and to state the obvious, a mistaken execution cannot be corrected later. The Typical Path of State Criminal Appeals
To appeal a criminal conviction, a defendant (now known as the appellant) follows the steps described below, though most cases don’t take all of them. Defendants who receive the death penalty, however, usually pursue each one.