I am in serious need of writing a brief and I am on a time table as I am facing a Court of Appeals. A Court of Appeals is not a continuation of the trial. The trial is over. The DA rests his case. The Defense rests his case. The Judge has made his decision. The trial is over, finished, ended, completed.
A Court of Appeals works inside of a closed box. Nothing new can be placed inside of this closed box. No new evidence nor new arguments are allowed inside of this closed box. A Court of Appeals can only work with what is already inside of this closed box. A Court of Appeals is but pure paperwork. There is no face-to-face Court. Only a decision is made. Apparently Supreme Court State Judges draw straws and the losing three Judges deal with the Appeal.
I can only use case law to show where the Judge himself was wrong. In my case the Judge decided that the DA being in “Default” (and he was) was a Civil Court term. Traffic Court = Criminal Court and there is no such concept such as “Default” in Criminal (Superior) Court.
In my case the DA was in default and the DA knew that he was in default but the Judge over ruled this default (Matter of Fact). By the rules of the Georgia Court of Appeals I must reiterate the charges themselves and show (by case law) where the Judge went wrong. My contention is that during hour one (00:00) the DA was in default. The citations are not in question.
As to my legal brief for the Court of appeals. The citations themselves or the fact that the DA was in “
efault from hour 00:00 . I need a starting point.
