The deadlines that decide appeals
Appellate law's harshest rule is arithmetic: strong issues die on missed dates. Here are the clocks that matter in Louisiana and federal court.
Ask appellate lawyers about their nightmares and few will describe losing an argument. Most will describe a calendar. Appeals are one of the rare corners of law where a case can be lost completely, permanently, and silently — by a date passing while everyone was catching their breath after sentencing.
Louisiana state court: 30 days
Under Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 914, a motion for appeal must generally be made no later than 30 days after the ruling being appealed — the sentence, or the denial of a timely motion for new trial or reconsideration. The motion itself is simple; what matters is that it exists, on time, in the record. Filing it is the act that keeps every other argument alive.
Federal court: 14 days
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b) gives a criminal defendant generally 14 days from entry of judgment to file the notice of appeal. Fourteen days, including the week the family spends absorbing the sentence. It is one of the least forgiving deadlines in criminal practice, and it should be treated as running from the moment the judge stops speaking.
After the direct appeal: the longer clocks
Post-conviction relief operates on its own schedule. In Louisiana, article 930.8 sets a general two-year window from finality of conviction and sentence for post-conviction applications, with narrow exceptions. In federal court, 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motions carry a general one-year limitation. These sound generous next to 14 and 30 days; they are not. Investigating claims like ineffective assistance takes months, and the exceptions are as narrow as courts can make them.
When the clock has already run
A missed appeal deadline is serious, not always fatal. Louisiana procedure recognizes requests to reinstate appeal rights in certain circumstances through the post-conviction process, particularly where the failure to appeal was not the defendant's fault. Federal law has its own doctrines for reviving lost time in limited situations. Every one of these paths narrows as months pass — the honest summary is: the sooner counsel looks, the more remains possible.
The practical rule
Families often spend the first weeks after a conviction deciding whether to appeal, comparing lawyers, gathering money. Reasonable — and dangerous. The motion or notice of appeal should be filed first, protecting the right, while the bigger decisions get made properly. Deadlines don't care about deliberation; file, then decide.
Talk through the case before the next deadline does the talking.
Calls and texts are answered day and night. Share only what you are comfortable sharing — the first conversation is about timing, exposure, and what has to happen next.
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