Judge may have erred

Found guilty at trial? It’s possible the judge made a mistake or the trial proceedings were flawed. If your future depends on it, consider an appeal. An in-depth review could uncover a way to overturn your conviction.

Even if you were convicted after pleading guilty, the conviction could be overturned if you can show that the plea was not voluntary, unequivocal or informed. For a guilty plea to be valid you must be aware of the nature of the allegations, the effect and consequences of your guilty plea, and that the plea constitutes an admission of the essential elements of the offence. A plea is considered equivocal if it was unintended, confusing, qualified, modified or uncertain in terms of the admission of the elements of the offence.

Guilty plea may be invalid

A guilty plea may be invalid if it was made without awareness of a potential defence to the charge or without knowing that a conviction would get you deported.

I have successfully appealed several convictions for Driving Over 80 mgs where defence counsel failed to identify defences that could have been raised at trial. Some of these cases involved guilty pleas where the appeal court allowed the filing of the appeal many months after the 30-day deadline had passed. Information on some of these cases is provided in my Casessection. If you pled guilty after getting legal advice but have concerns about the validity of the plea, you are welcome to contact me for a consultation.

Read more: Blog piece on appeals.