On grounds of ineffective counsel, where the verdict was guilty, can there be retrial

[John123]

There was a federal court case in which there was a conspiracy against one man and his wife.
After the examinations of the prosecution's witnesses were done, the two lawyers of this couple advised them that it would be a good idea to rest the case now without their own defense.

They believed this was a good idea because they thought that they were able to convince the jury that the people who conspired against the couple were proven to be liars and crooks.

Before agreeing to rest the case without a defense, the couple was told they would be able to make an appeal if the verdict was guilty. Now this is a couple who has never dealt with the law, and knows nothing about it. They thought that an appeal is a complete re-do of the entire case, or a retrial.

They thought that if rested the defense now and the verdict was guilty, they can make an appeal and retry the case with all their witnesses.

When asking the lawyer if they can make the appeal, he never mentioned to them that an appeal was not retrial. The only thing he said was, "we can make an appeal, but the only thing is that you will have to be in jail when making it."

Because of this and the fact that he also told them that a had a great gut feeling about resting the case, they agreed to rest the case. He was one of the best lawyers around, and they knew he would have the expertise to choose correctly in this matter.

Not only until after the verdict was decided, did they find out that an appeal is NOT a retrial of the case but a mere look over to see if things were chosen fairly. No new witnesses or evidence can be brought in, making it a one sided case.

Is there any thing that can be done about this? If the lawyer agreed to admit to the court that it was his fault they rested the case, would that change anything? Is there any way they can have a retrial?

This is an innocent couple who did not have the chance to prove their side in the case, due to their lawyer's judgment.

Please help me resolve this issue. Thank you

[LostinAustin]

Wow...this is a real monster of a question. This sounds extremely serious--serious enough to warrant a trip to a criminal attorney...

[emily]

Hi, the case of conspiracies as mentioned above should be taken care of by experts and i agree that the innocent couple should not be facing all this trouble. An expert Criminal Defense Lawyer would not only meet the basic requirement ie., clearing all charges against the couple but would also get them a good deal of compensation. I strongly recommend you to consider suing the people who accused the couple too.