POST CONVICTION
Challenging Convictions After the Appellate Process
Even after the appellate process, there are still options to challenge a criminal conviction. Through a legal process called writ of habeas corpus, individuals can challenge their imprisonment based on new evidence, ineffective counsel, or violations of constitutional rights.
How We Can Help:
Post-conviction work is where the real digging begins. When the direct appeal is over, clients still have options, but those options require a different kind of advocacy. After a conviction is final, we must investigate cases from the ground up: reviewing transcripts, examining evidence, interviewing witnesses, uncovering what was missed, and identifying constitutional or factual errors that demand correction.
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State and federal habeas petitions are complex, deadline-driven, and often the last meaningful chance for relief. Drawing on years of experience in both systems, we develop focused, fact-driven arguments aimed at exposing errors, correcting injustices, and giving clients a path forward when it feels like every door has closed.
General Information about Writs of Habeas Corpus
What is a habeas corpus petition?
A habeas corpus petition is a legal claim of action designed to test the validity of a person's confinement. The complete name is a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, but people may also refer to it as a "habeas petition," "habeas corpus," or simply "writ" or "habeas." Someone filing a habeas claim is asserting that the government has illegally confined them, and they are seeking release from that confinement.
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The right to file a petition for habeas relief was deemed so important by America's Founding Fathers that it is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. It is also protected in the Texas State Constitution.
What kinds of claims can be raised in habeas?
You can only present claims of constitutional error in a habeas petition.
Common habeas claims are ineffective assistance of counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, involuntary plea, or newly discovered evidence. There are, however, other possible claims that may be raised, depending on the case.
What goes into presenting a viable habeas claim?
Every case is different, and this is only general information that may or may not apply to any given case.
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Generally speaking, habeas cases done correctly take a good deal of work. Reviewing all of the trial and appellate documents along with files from the District Attorney's office and other government organizations is just the beginning. After that, the attorney usually must conduct a new investigation of the case from the ground which. This task may involve speaking with people who were witnesses at trial or who were not witnesses but still had information relevant to the case that the trial court should have heard. It may involve DNA testing or coordinating with labs for other forms of forensic testing. The attorney usually needs to hire an investigator or expert in order to properly litigate a habeas claim.
If the attorney discovers information that was never presented at trial, she must obtain affidavits memorializing the new evidence. Those affidavits will accompany the habeas petition.
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Additionally, the attorney will be in charge of putting together a hearing to formally present the court with evidence and testimony in support of the claims.
How does someone file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus?
Habeas corpus is a very narrow, complicated area of the law that is very difficult to understand. Because defendants are not entitled to the appointment of an attorney in habeas, however, the vast majority of habeas litigants are prison inmates filing pleadings on their own behalf.
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In an effort to make the process easier, there are forms that a litigant can fill out in order to initiate his habeas case.
Habeas Petitions Based on a Texas State Conviction
Article 11.07 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure governs state habeas petitions.
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A person wanting to challenge a criminal conviction that was handed down by a state court in Texas must use a specific form. Click here to go to that form.
Habeas Petitions Based on a Federal Conviction
Title 28, Section 2255 of the United States Code governs federal habeas petitions challenging federal criminal convictions.
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A person wanting to challenge a criminal conviction that was handed down by a federal court must use a specific form. Click here to go to that form.
Federal Habeas Petitions Challenging a Texas State Conviction
Title 28, Section 2254 of the United States Code governs federal habeas petitions challenging state criminal convictions.
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A person who was convicted by a state court and who has lost his state petition for habeas corpus can file a federal petition for habeas corpus. There is also a form required for that petition. Click here to go to that form.
Briefs in Support
In addition to the required form, it is highly advisable to file a brief in support of the petition. The brief is filed at the same time and in the same court as the petition.
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A brief is simply a written legal argument. It must clearly and concisely set forth the argument and it must cite to cases in support of that arguments.
Where does someone file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus?
Habeas Petitions Based on a Texas State Conviction
A person wanting to challenge a criminal conviction that was handed down by a state court in Texas must file his petition with the court that handed down the conviction.
Habeas Petitions Based on a Federal Conviction
A person wanting to challenge a criminal conviction that was handed down by a federal court must file his petition with the court that handed down the conviction.
Federal Habeas Petitions Challenging a Texas State Conviction
A person who was convicted by a state court and who has lost his state petition for habeas corpus has two options for where he files his petition. He can either file it
(1) in the federal district court with jurisdiction over his county of incarceration or
(2) in the federal court with jurisdiction over the county out of which his conviction is based. Usually, however, the case will be ultimately transferred to the federal court with jurisdiction over the county out of which the conviction is based.
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Title 28, Section 124 dictates which federal district courts have jurisdiction over the various Texas counties. Here is a link to that statute.
The Habeas Process
Habeas Petitions in Texas Courts
This information is for habeas petitions based upon a state court conviction that resulted in a prison sentence. The rules are slightly different for convictions that resulted in community supervision.
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Once a petition is filed in the trial court, the court will usually do one of three things:
(1) Order the parties to gather additional evidence;
(2) Order a hearing so that the court itself can hear additional evidence; or
(3) Issue its findings of fact and conclusions of law based on the pleadings already filed.
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After evaluating the evidence before it, the trial court will issue Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. In this legal document, the trial court will discuss its view of the evidence and what it thinks should be the ultimate decision in the case.
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The trial court will then send the case and its recommendations directly to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Court of Criminal Appeals usually will either:
(1) Send the case back to the trial court for it to gather additional evidence;
(2) Agree with the trial court's recommendations; or
(3) Disagree with the trial court's recommendations.
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What happens with a conviction if it is vacated in habeas depends on what the evidence established and how the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled. Usually, however, if a person's conviction is vacated in habeas, then he will be returned to square one. This means he may have to go to trial all over again.
Habeas Petitions in Federal Courts
The habeas process in federal courts also begins with the federal district court. The procedure employed by the courts, however, may differ. Some federal district judges may send the case to a federal magistrate judge. The magistrate court will review the case documents and issue recommendations to the district court, which that court can either accept or reject. Other district court's may directly rule on the case without the benefit of a magistrate's recommendations.
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After the federal district court rules on the case, the losing party may try to appeal the case to the circuit court with jurisdiction over the district court. In Texas, appeals from a federal district court go to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.