When I talk to a potential client, or the potential client’s family, the first thing I want to know is what kind of case it is. The second thing, and this is probably more important, is what the current due dates are. If the notice of appeal is due today, I have to know that today; it won’t help to figure it out tomorrow or next week when I’ve received the file from the prior attorney.
Some deadlines are short and inflexible; you have 30 days to file an appeal in most instances. If the 30-day period applies, the court has no authority to waive the deadline and accept a filing on the 31st day. (In some types of cases, the deadline is actually 60 or 90 days.) Some deadlines are longer; there is two years to seek post-conviction relief. Some deadlines are flexible; the two-year time to file post-conviction relief can be extended to raise issues that could not have been raised earlier. A federal habeas corpus petition must be filed within a year of the conviction. That one-year clock is stopped while there is an appeal pending, or a post-conviction petition. But if the post-conviction petition was filed just short of the two-year deadline, then the one-year limitation period for federal habeas corpus will already have run out, maybe forever.
There are two things to take from that. First, don’t delay. Some time periods, especially those after sentencing (for appeal, to move for new trial, or to seek to withdraw a plea) are short and rigid. Don’t put it off.
Second, time periods are complex, and you shouldn’t assume that you’ve missed one without talking to an attorney. If you were sentenced 30 days ago, the notice of appeal might be due today. But the 30 days begins to run when the judgment is entered in the state computer system by the clerk, which could be the day of sentencing, or could be months later, and you might not be informed about it. If have a court date coming up, or if some stage of the process has ended and you are considering going to the next step such as an appeal, you need to talk to counsel right away.
