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Old July 8, 2013, 10:43 PM   #140
KyJim
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Join Date: July 26, 2005
Location: The Bluegrass
Posts: 9,142
Quote:
Not a lawyer, but they will chime in. You can only appeal on some kind of misconduct or legal mistake - not that you were convicted.

There has to be reversible error.
I do not know Florida law. Under federal law, a case should be dismissed for lack of evidence only if no reasonable jury could convict. In weighing this, a judge must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the government. Credibility issues, except in very rare cases, are exclusively for the jury to consider.

No trial is perfect so an appellate court determines if an error is harmless. There are different standards for determining harmless error depending upon whether the error was one of constitutional law or non-constitutional law (a purely evidentiary ruling, for example). If the claim of error is not preserved (by an objection or motion), an appellate court reviews only for clear error which has an even higher standard.

Again, this is not Florida specific. This is the standard used in the federal court system and many state systems.
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