If you have been convicted of a crime and you have exhausted all your appeals, you may want to consider a post-conviction motion such as petitioning the Texas court or federal court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Generally speaking, a Writ of Habeas Corpus attacks the conviction or sentence on constitutional grounds. In other words, the petitioner argues that the conviction or sentence violates the constitution and must be over turned.

Contact Adrienne Dunn regarding your post-conviction litigation.

   Federal Post-Conviction Petitions for Writ of Habeas Corpus:

• 28 U.S.C. §2254 (for a state prisoner)
• 28 U.S.C. §2255 (for a federal prisoner)

   State Post-Conviction Applications for Texas Writ of Habeas Corpus

• Texas Code Criminal Procedure art. 11.07 (term of imprisonment for felony convictions)
• Texas Code Criminal Procedure art. 11.071 (capital sentence)
• Texas Code Criminal Procedure art. 11.072 (term of imprisonment for misdemeanor convictions and term of probation for either felony or misdemeanor convictions)

   Here is a sample of a writ of Habeas Corpus in PDF (2009).

How is a writ of habeas corpus different from an appeal?

   Both an appeal and a writ of habeas corpus challenge the conviction or sentence. But the manner differs. In an appeal, all complaints are limited to what happened on the record; meaning what happened in front of the judge. However, a writ of a habeas corpus does not have such limitations. For instance, if your attorney argued at trial that a piece of evidence should be suppressed, but the judge denied the request, that would be an appropriate ground for appeal. However, if your attorney failed to argue at trial that a piece of evidence should be suppressed, and the judge was never given the opportunity to decide the issue, that would be an appropriate claim in a writ of habeas corpus.

I was convicted in state court. When is the deadline to file a writ of habeas corpus?

   In state court, there is no deadline in which to file a writ of habeas corpus.

I was convicted in federal court. When is the deadline to file a writ of habeas corpus?

   The deadline in federal court is one year from the date you were sentenced. However, the time in which your appeal was pending tolls (or stops) the time clock. For instance, assume you were sentenced on January 1, 2008. You filed your notice of appeal also on January 1, 2008. The court of appeals issued its opinion on January 1, 2009. Because the time during your appeal tolled the time clock, your deadline for filing a writ would be January 1, 2010.

I was convicted in state court. Can I file a federal writ of habeas corpus?

   Yes. The federal court will review the state court decision. The deadline in federal court is one year from the date you were sentenced. However, the time in which your appeal and state writ were pending tolls (or stops) the time clock.

I have already filed a writ in either state or federal court. Can I file a second writ?

   Generally speaking, you may file only one writ. There are, however, narrow exceptions to this rule.