Portland, Oregon Federal Appeals Attorney
1318 NW Northrup Street
Portland, OR 97209
503-647-6860
Portland Federal Appeals Team Lead
Former Deputy Chief, Appellate Division
Portland Federal Appeals Team
Former U.S. Attorney
Portland Federal Appeals Team
Contact NickWhy consider a Portland Oregon federal appeals attorney for your case?
- Our team has been involved in over 500 federal appeals cases.
- Over 50 years of combined frontline experience.
- You will work directly with your senior attorney from day one — no junior attorneys or assistants.
If you have been convicted for a federal offense or have been sentenced on that conviction in Portland, Oregon, you have a right to appeal. Utilizing this right can be the last, and potentially the most important, stage in your defense strategy.
The federal appeals lawyers at the national defense firm Oberheiden P.C. have legally represented numerous federal defendants in Portland, Oregon, during their appellate case. Invoking the right to appeal can be a planned part of your criminal defense strategy or a necessary component of protecting your rights at the trial level. Regardless, our appellate team can help.
The Appeals Process for Federal Offenses in Oregon
The federal criminal justice system can be broken into three basic stages:
- Investigation,
- Trial, and
- Appeal.
The investigation begins when law enforcement officers start gathering evidence of a federal crime. This investigation process can take minutes, days, or years. When law enforcement determines that they have probable cause to believe that you committed a crime, they will make an arrest. If they convince a judge or magistrate that there is probable cause, a trial will be scheduled.
In between this point and the trial, you may be held in pre-trial detention or released on bail.
During this pre-trial phase, prosecutors and your defense lawyer will gather evidence about the alleged offense. Plea offers will be made. If no plea deal is accepted and the prosecutors are confident that they can win at trial, the case will go to trial.
At trial, both sides present their sides of the story. The judge or jury will hear the evidence and hand down a verdict. If the verdict is not-guilty, you are free to go. If the verdict is guilty, a sentencing hearing will be scheduled, where you will learn of the penalties of your conviction.
You can appeal your case and initiate the appeals process after:
- You are convicted
- You receive your sentence
- An interim court order, though this is rare
Up to this point, the trial process will have been handled by the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. For federal offenses that are charged in Portland, it will generally go through the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse at 1000 S.W. Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204.
The appeal, however, will be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit is based in San Francisco, at the James R. Browning Courthouse. However, it has an office in Portland, Oregon, barely half a mile away from the District Courthouse at 700 S.W. Sixth Ave., Suite 110, Portland, OR 97204. Most appeals from the District Court of Oregon are heard there.
If the Circuit Court does not overturn your conviction or sentence, you can appeal their decision to the United States Supreme Court, in Washington, D.C.
Put our highly experienced team on your side
Dr. Nick Oberheiden
Founder
Attorney-at-Law
Lynette S. Byrd
Former DOJ Trial Attorney
Partner
Brian J. Kuester
Former U.S. Attorney
Hon. Kevin McCarthy
55th Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives (ret.)
Government Consultant
Mike Pompeo
Of Counsel
Former U.S. Secretary of State
John W. Sellers
Former Senior DOJ Trial Attorney
Linda Julin McNamara
Federal Appeals Attorney
Nicholas B. Johnson
Former Prosecutor
Roger Bach
Former Special Agent (DOJ)
Chris J. Quick
Former Special Agent (FBI & IRS-CI)
Michael S. Koslow
Former Supervisory Special Agent (DOD-OIG)
Ray Yuen
Former Supervisory Special Agent (FBI)
How Criminal Appeals Work
Appealing a federal criminal conviction is not like taking the case to trial. No new trial is held and no new evidence is gathered. Instead, the factual findings of the trial that had been conducted at the District Court of Oregon are largely adopted by the appeals court. In order to successfully appeal the District Court’s ruling, you have to point to a valid grounds for appeal. This can be:
- A decision by the District Court judge that unfairly prejudiced you during trial
- A misapplication of the law by the District Court
- A verdict that was wholly unsupported by the evidence presented
- An issue of law that is unsettled or debatable
Once you and your defense attorneys have isolated a valid grounds for appeal, that will be the only issue to be resolved or considered by the Ninth Circuit. This makes it very important to have experienced Portland Oregon federal appeals attorney on hand for certain cases during the trial process at the District Court level. If your case involves a novel or disputable point of law, then it is essential to plan ahead and preserve the issue for appeal should you lose at trial. Failing to adequately preserve an issue for appeal is one of the most difficult problems for appellate attorneys to overcome.
Most of the work for the appeals process happens out of sight. Unlike during the trial and the lead up to it, where your trial defense team interviewed witnesses and prepared testimony, your Portland, Oregon federal appeal lawyers spend most of their time conducting legal research and writing legal briefs that focus on your grounds for appeal. Those briefs tell the appellate judges of the Ninth Circuit why they should rule in your favor.
In many cases, the Circuit Court will issue an opinion based solely on the legal briefs that were submitted by your defense lawyers and the prosecutors assigned to your case. Sometimes, though, an oral argument will be scheduled, during which both sides will explain their case to the judges and answer their questions about it.
In its ruling, the court can:
- Side with the prosecutor and affirm the District Court’s ruling against you,
- Overturn your conviction,
- Reverse the conviction and order a new trial, or
- Remand the case back to the District Court with instructions for how to fix its errors.
Should the ruling go against you, you have the right to petition the Supreme Court to review your case.
Some Frequently Asked Questions About Oberheiden P.C. and the Federal Appeals Process
Will My Appeal Lead to a New Trial?
No, at least not at first.
It can be helpful to think of the trial as where the facts were determined with finality, while the appeal is where the law is determined with finality. Appellate judges do not have direct access to witness testimony. Instead, they only have the court record to go on, so they strongly defer to credibility determinations that were made in the District Court. This leaves them to focus on the grounds for appeal that you have made, which can be argued without the need for a new trial.
However, in many cases where the Ninth Circuit rules in a criminal defendant’s favor, the only way to move forward is to order a new trial to be held in the District Court. In this way, a successful appeal may lead to a new trial.
How Long Do I Have to File an Appeal?
Not very long. Under Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, you need to decide whether you want to appeal and to file your Notice of Appeal with the District Court of Oregon within 14 days. Filing this Notice initiates the process of preserving the record of your trial for review by the Ninth Circuit. Failing to file the Notice waives your right to appeal.
Will My Case Go to the Supreme Court?
It is possible. However, it is unlikely for the Supreme Court to agree to review the case once the Ninth Circuit is finished with it.
If the Ninth Circuit’s ruling is not in your favor, you have a right to ask the Supreme Court to review it. This involves submitting a petition for a writ of certiorari – an incredibly complicated filing that explains why the Supreme Court should review your case. Not only does this petition have to persuasively argue why the Ninth Circuit’s ruling was wrong; it also has to convince the Supreme Court that your case is among the most important of the thousands of other cases that they are considering for review.
The Supreme Court only grants around 2 to 3 percent of the petitions for certiorari that it gets every year. While the odds are long, the specific facts of your case may make them considerably shorter.
What is the Ninth Circuit’s Reputation?
The Ninth Circuit is known for being the most liberal appellate court in America. This is good for criminal defendants, as the judges are not trying to make a point about being hard on crime. Instead, the judges on the Ninth Circuit are often more concerned with the civil rights of criminal defendants and skeptical of law enforcement officers than those on other Circuit Courts.
Why Doesn’t Oberheiden P.C. Call Itself the Best Appellate Law Firm in Portland, Oregon?
Because that is something that we prefer to let our prior clients say about our appellate law firm. However, as our case results show, each senior level Portland, Oregon federal appeals lawyer who exclusively makes up our firm has repeatedly shown the knowledge and the experience necessary to secure excellent results for our clients. This has led to a long list of positive reviews and testimonials about the legal services that Oberheiden P.C. can provide.
The Portland, Oregon Federal Appeal Attorneys at Oberheiden, P.C.
Oberheiden P.C. is a national defense law firm that focuses exclusively on federal cases. Our defense attorneys are all senior-level lawyers are highly experienced with defending a wide variety of criminal cases, including:
- White collar crimes
- Fraud
- Mail and wire fraud
- Conspiracy
- Healthcare fraud
- Embezzlement
- Securities fraud
- Drug offenses
We provide legal representation at both the trial and the appellate level, giving criminal defendants with complex cases that are likely to have to go through the District Court and get resolved by the Ninth Circuit a one-stop-shop for their entire defense.
Contact our law firm online or call Oberheiden, P.C. today at (888) 680-1745 to speak to a Portland, Oregon federal appeals lawyer.
