Your appeal / the United States
Appeals in the United States
A notice of appeal can be due in as little as 14 days, a first appeal comes with a lawyer, and federal habeas has a one-year limit.
Your deadline can be very short
Every state sets its own deadline, and they differ a lot. Never assume. In the rules we read, the time runs from 14 days in Kansas to 90 days for felonies in Minnesota. Most states allow 30 days, and California and Montana allow 60. In Wisconsin the first step is a notice of intent, due in 20 days. In federal court the notice is due in 14 days. Your state's page lists the rule where we could confirm it. What starts the clock also varies, and post-trial motions can change it, so ask your lawyer in writing.
- Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)
- State rules, on each jurisdiction page
Your lawyer must file if you say so
A lawyer who ignores your specific instruction to file a notice of appeal has acted unreasonably. If you want to appeal, say so clearly, in writing if you can, and keep a copy.
If you are in prison and filing in federal court yourself, the notice is on time if you put it in the prison's internal mail system by the last day, with a declaration or notarized statement of the date and prepaid postage. If there is a legal mail system, you must use it. State rules differ, so check yours.
Your right to a lawyer
If you cannot afford a lawyer, you have a right to appointed counsel on your first appeal as of right, and that lawyer must be effective. The right stops there. It does not extend to discretionary appeals or to state post-conviction proceedings, even in capital cases. Some states provide more than the constitutional minimum, so ask.
If your appointed lawyer finds no arguable issue, the lawyer may ask to withdraw, but must file a brief pointing to anything in the record that could support the appeal.
Preserve your issues
A party ordinarily must object in the trial court to raise a point on appeal. If you pleaded guilty, check whether you signed an appeal waiver. Waivers are usually enforced, but in 2026 the Supreme Court said that one is unenforceable when it would result in a miscarriage of justice, and called that a high bar.
After direct appeal: state post-conviction
Each state has its own route, its own name for it and its own clock. Some states have special laws, such as Texas's article 11.073 on changed science. Illinois post-conviction law recognizes an actual innocence claim. We have not surveyed every state, so ask a lawyer what yours offers.
A prosecutor's support helps, but it may not end the matter. In Syed v. Lee, Maryland's top court undid a vacatur because a victim's representative's right to be heard had been violated.
Federal habeas has a one-year clock
State prisoners use 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Federal prisoners use § 2255. Both have a one-year limit. For a state prisoner, the year usually runs from when the judgment became final on direct review, though later start dates exist.
Here is the classic trap. Time spent on a properly filed state application does not count against the year. But a state petition rejected as late was not properly filed, so it does not stop the clock. You can lose federal review by filing late in state court. Equitable tolling exists, but it is narrow: you must show diligence and an extraordinary circumstance.
Getting into federal court
You must first give the state courts one full opportunity, through one complete round of the state's appellate review. A claim defaulted under a state rule is barred unless you show cause and actual prejudice, or a fundamental miscarriage of justice. Coleman lost federal review because his notice was filed 33 days after judgment under a 30-day rule.
Federal courts defer to state decisions on the merits unless they were contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court, or rested on an unreasonable view of the facts. Second petitions are very limited. To appeal a denial, you need a certificate of appealability.
Actual innocence is a gateway
A credible showing of innocence can open a door that would otherwise be closed. You must show that, in light of new evidence, it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have found you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This can get a barred constitutional claim heard, and it can overcome the one-year limit, though the Court has warned that these claims are rare. It means factual innocence, not legal insufficiency.
In the federal system, innocence alone has never been held to be a ground for habeas relief. The routes are a constitutional claim plus this gateway, state law, and clemency. After Shinn v. Martinez Ramirez, federal courts have limited power to consider evidence outside the state record, so build your state record carefully.
When evidence was hidden or false
Suppressing evidence favorable to the accused violates due process where it is material to guilt or punishment, whatever the prosecutor's good or bad faith. That covers evidence affecting a key witness's credibility, and evidence known to police. Evidence is material if there is a reasonable probability that disclosure would have changed the result.
A conviction obtained through evidence known by the state to be false must fall. If the false testimony could in any reasonable likelihood have affected the jury, a new trial is warranted.
If your lawyer let you down
You must show two things. First, that your lawyer's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Second, prejudice: a reasonable probability that, but for the errors, the result would have been different. Courts are highly deferential to lawyers' choices.
DNA testing
There is no freestanding federal right to DNA evidence, but you can bring a civil rights suit to challenge a state's procedures. Many states have their own laws, so ask about yours. For federal convictions, a court must order testing if the conditions in 18 U.S.C. § 3600 are met.
Clemency and compensation
The President can pardon federal offenses only. State convictions go to state authorities, whose procedures differ. Courts give clemency decisions almost no review.
Federal law allows a claim by a person unjustly convicted of a federal offense, up to $50,000 for each year, or $100,000 for each year on death row. You need a court certificate or a pardon on the ground of innocence. Many states have their own compensation laws, on different terms.
Who can help
Your state's public defender or appellate defender is the first call. Our jurisdiction pages list them. Innocence organizations take on selected cases: the Innocence Network keeps the directory. The National Registry of Exonerations records known cases, and we link to it for readers.
General information only, not legal advice. Do not rely on this page for a deadline in your case.