Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Criminal Appeals
Christopher Leibig Highlights
Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Law Office Of CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG Criminal Defense
Christopher Leibig Highlights
Appeals are an academic proposition. When seeking an appellate attorney, one should be considering intellect, sophistication, and patience. One phone call with most firms is enough to tell an educated consumer to move along. If the lawyer mentions the fee, or how to pay, within the first hour, or over the phone, they do not care about winning the case or helping you. It takes many hours to even understand what is involved with each individual appellate case. If the firm is too busy to meet with you to discuss details without being paid, the firm should not be taken seriously for an appeal. Anyone who goes to trial and loses a criminal case is forced to face the reality that his or her freedom, reputation, or both rests on the success of their criminal appeal. Appeals rarely win. Creativity is everything, It’s important that attorneys tell clients the truth about that. Importantly, when we take on an appeal the client will understand the strategy and why it is worth employing before moving forward.
Appeals are an academic proposition. When seeking an appellate attorney, one should be considering intellect, sophistication, and patience. One phone call with most firms is enough to tell an educated consumer to move along. If the lawyer mentions the fee, or how to pay, within the first hour, or over the phone, they do not care about winning the case or helping you. It takes many hours to even understand what is involved with each individual appellate case. If the firm is too busy to meet with you to discuss details without being paid, the firm should not be taken seriously for an appeal. Anyone who goes to trial and loses a criminal case is forced to face the reality that his or her freedom, reputation, or both rests on the success of their criminal appeal. Appeals rarely win. Creativity is everything, It’s important that attorneys tell clients the truth about that. Importantly, when we take on an appeal the client will understand the strategy and why it is worth employing before moving forward.
Chris has regularly handled appeals in the Virginia Court of Appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond. In 2023 he and Meghan Shapiro won reversal of a 25 year Arlington sentence in a child sex abuse case. (Alberto-Rodriguez v. Commonwealth). Some of his other appellate cases include Foltz v. Commonwealth, the first warrantless GPS tracking case in Virginia history, Rogers v. Commonwealth, a death penalty case that resulted in a life sentence; Commonwealth v. Pannell, a case that heightened protections for juveniles charged with probation violations and provoked the General Assembly to change the Juvenile Code; Brown v. Commonwealth, a DWI case reversed by the Virginia Court of Appeals because of faulty breath test procedures; Hernandez v. United States, a case that challenged the federal rule not requiring a jury trial in DWI cases; and, United States v. Jeffery, an appeal of a conviction for a multi-million dollar oil theft scam in Iraq and Commonwealth v. Bjerke, a case challenging the government use of DNA evidence in a genetic genealogy case. The firm handles appeals by charging an initial fee for an extensive review of the record to determine whether the case contains issue meritorious enough to warrant expenditure of the costs for the whole appeal. After such a review,and once a client decides to appeal, the fee can be structured over time.
From Chris' interview on ReelLawyers.com
I’ve had a lot, but I’ll mention this one because I argued it this morning in federal court down the street in Alexandria. It was an appeal about the right to a jury trial in what they call a petty offense in federal court.
A lot of people don’t know this, but even though the Sixth Amendment says the right to a jury trial applies in all criminal prosecutions, it doesn’t if you’re charged with a misdemeanor in federal court that carries only up to six months in jail. Often, this would be something like an offense on a national park, where there is no right to a jury trial.
I challenged that back in 2009 in the Fourth Circuit, and I have another case raising the same issue, which I argued today. At this level, it will lose—the case needs to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. I find it interesting because, in federal court, you essentially don’t have the right to a jury trial for a DUI. That makes it harder to negotiate and more challenging for clients.
This is an issue I’ve always been interested in, and I hope to argue it in the Fourth Circuit later this year.
Appeals are an academic proposition. When seeking an appellate attorney, one should be considering intellect, sophistication, and patience. One phone call with most firms is enough to tell an educated consumer to move along. If the lawyer mentions the fee, or how to pay, within the first hour, or over the phone, they do not care about winning the case or helping you. It takes many hours to even understand what is involved with each individual appellate case. If the firm is too busy to meet with you to discuss details without being paid, the firm should not be taken seriously for an appeal. Anyone who goes to trial and loses a criminal case is forced to face the reality that his or her freedom, reputation, or both rests on the success of their criminal appeal. Appeals rarely win. Creativity is everything, It’s important that attorneys tell clients the truth about that. Importantly, when we take on an appeal the client will understand the strategy and why it is worth employing before moving forward.
Chris has regularly handled appeals in the Virginia Court of Appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond. In 2023 he and Meghan Shapiro won reversal of a 25 year Arlington sentence in a child sex abuse case. (Alberto-Rodriguez v. Commonwealth). Some of his other appellate cases include Foltz v. Commonwealth, the first warrantless GPS tracking case in Virginia history, Rogers v. Commonwealth, a death penalty case that resulted in a life sentence; Commonwealth v. Pannell, a case that heightened protections for juveniles charged with probation violations and provoked the General Assembly to change the Juvenile Code; Brown v. Commonwealth, a DWI case reversed by the Virginia Court of Appeals because of faulty breath test procedures; Hernandez v. United States, a case that challenged the federal rule not requiring a jury trial in DWI cases; and, United States v. Jeffery, an appeal of a conviction for a multi-million dollar oil theft scam in Iraq and Commonwealth v. Bjerke, a case challenging the government use of DNA evidence in a genetic genealogy case. The firm handles appeals by charging an initial fee for an extensive review of the record to determine whether the case contains issue meritorious enough to warrant expenditure of the costs for the whole appeal. After such a review,and once a client decides to appeal, the fee can be structured over time.
Chris has regularly handled appeals in the Virginia Court of Appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond. In 2023 he and Meghan Shapiro won reversal of a 25 year Arlington sentence in a child sex abuse case. (Alberto-Rodriguez v. Commonwealth). Some of his other appellate cases include Foltz v. Commonwealth, the first warrantless GPS tracking case in Virginia history, Rogers v. Commonwealth, a death penalty case that resulted in a life sentence; Commonwealth v. Pannell, a case that heightened protections for juveniles charged with probation violations and provoked the General Assembly to change the Juvenile Code; Brown v. Commonwealth, a DWI case reversed by the Virginia Court of Appeals because of faulty breath test procedures; Hernandez v. United States, a case that challenged the federal rule not requiring a jury trial in DWI cases; and, United States v. Jeffery, an appeal of a conviction for a multi-million dollar oil theft scam in Iraq and Commonwealth v. Bjerke, a case challenging the government use of DNA evidence in a genetic genealogy case. The firm handles appeals by charging an initial fee for an extensive review of the record to determine whether the case contains issue meritorious enough to warrant expenditure of the costs for the whole appeal. After such a review,and once a client decides to appeal, the fee can be structured over time.
CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG
CHRISTOPHER LEIBIG