My fiancee' received a letter from his appellate lawyer asking him to write her and include any information that he would like her to bring up in court with regards to his case...so now what? This is a case where he's been wrongfully accused of a crime he says he didn't commit and I believe he's innocent. What are the necessary steps to take when preparing for something like this? And what other information can I send him to assist him with the process? PTO has been so helpful to me and I've printed out alot of information that I felt would help him possibly when his appeal. Any advice would greatly be appreciated.

Congratulations, that's a great benefit for you and yours. First, go to the circuit court website for your district. Find out WHAT is required on an appeal...for example for my son who's in the 11th circuit..there's a great form you can download. Just follow that , if it's available on your circuit court website...it's a great guide for those of us who aren't legalese. For my son, there were errors committed during his sentencing...as well as the booker and now shepard references. so, we're going to present plain error AND reference both shepard and booker. there is an appellate website you can go to:
http://appellate.typepad.com

best of luck!
mary

I don't think appeals introduce new information about the case or trial/pre-trial. It deals with the legal aspects that were questionable or improper. Since it sounds like your b/f doesn't know the attorne, he can communicate anything that is relevant to HIM about the situation and also the trial. If this is his only means of communication he can put everything down that he is concerned about in an orderly fashion; the appellate attorney can sort through it and decide how to procede.

How come he is not meeting with her or even talking on the phone? Usually the attorney would go visit at the prison, it is kind of hard to get all the info in a letter. Just tell him to write down absolutely everything. Were you involved with him around the time of the alleged offense? Do you know anything about what happened? My husband is appealing his conviction at the moment, and what I do is make contact with the attorney every so often, just to kind of remind him that we're still here, give him any new information or questions my husband might have asked, generally just keep on his back to make sure he's doing his job.
I also research the legal aspects to make sure the attorney has not missed anything in his brief, especially if there are any new legal rulings that may apply to the case.

Thanks for all of the information I'm going to look into everything and print this out and send it to him.

@ Nemesis: The conviction took place in DC he's been relocated to Texas, the lawyer is here in DC. He said he received a letter with her address but no number at first and then he received some correspondence with her number and now that you mentioned it I'm going to suggest that he calls her since he pays for his own calls. I'm also going to ask him for that information and contact her myself and ask that he notify her that I will be doing so and make her aware of who I am. I have known him for 14 years but at the time of this alleged crime we were apart. I know what he's told me during our visits. I will pm you.

How come he is not meeting with her or even talking on the phone? Usually the attorney would go visit at the prison, it is kind of hard to get all the info in a letter. Just tell him to write down absolutely everything. Were you involved with him around the time of the alleged offense? Do you know anything about what happened? My husband is appealing his conviction at the moment, and what I do is make contact with the attorney every so often, just to kind of remind him that we're still here, give him any new information or questions my husband might have asked, generally just keep on his back to make sure he's doing his job.
I also research the legal aspects to make sure the attorney has not missed anything in his brief, especially if there are any new legal rulings that may apply to the case.