Although Ms. Bonner is a member of the Florida Bar, she has obtained pro hac vice (permission to represent a person in another State) and litigated to a favorable verdict in The State of Montana.
TRIAL
Ms. Bonner has extensive experience in federal and state trials. She prepares for trial by extensive motion practice; understands the law and the rules of evidence. Since Ms. Bonner represents many individuals in complex appeals and post conviction matters, she understands the errors that may lead to a reversal, in the event that you are convicted.
APPELLATE REPRESENTATION
You must file a Notice of Appeal invoking the jurisdiction of the state court. In Florida, the time which you have to file the Notice is thirty days. If you are late in filing your Notice of Appeal, you may lose your opportunity to appeal at all.
After the Notice of Appeal is filed, your lawyer must order transcripts and designate the portions of the Record to be included for the Appellate Court. The Record includes all motions filed at the trial court letter as well as all transcripts of proceedings, including sentencing, at the trial court level.
In some states there is a state Supreme Court which has jurisdiction over certain cases. If so you may attempt to invoke that jurisdiction.
After all state remedies are completed, you may apply to the United States Supreme Court if you have a federal law or constitutional issue. This is called Certiorari review and is rarely granted. Ms. Bonner has had the honor of arguing at The United States Supreme Court.
STATE POST CONVICTION REPRESENTATION.
If your trial, your appeal and your request for Certiorari review are unsuccessful, you may return to your trial court and seek post conviction relief.
In Florida, after all of the appeals are completed that is a Motion under Rule 3.850 and Rule 3.851, and is analogous to the federal relief available under 28 USC SECTION 2255 AND 2254.
The most frequent of the issues raised in any post conviction litigation is ineffective assistance of trial or appellate counsel, and Government improprieties, including withholding information favorable to you.
This is a very difficult area of litigation. Your lawyer must go back to square one–prepare as if preparing for trial. This includes reviewing all motions filed and all motions which could have been filed but were missed by your trial counsel. There is also a complete review not only of transcripts but of all discovery. The type of issues which arise include failure to investigate; failure to locate or present witnesses. This requires re-investigation because you will have to establish that the information was available if your lawyer had just looked. This includes witnesses who were available and willing to testify and who had compelling evidence to be produced to the jury, such as the testimony would have changed the outcome of the trial.
If you lose at the trial court post conviction litigation, you are able to appeal. Certiorari review is also available.
Federal Post Conviction Litigation for State Prisoners
If you have lost in your state post conviction litigation, you can appeal to the state courts and IF THERE ARE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES which were presented in the state motion, you may file a motion to vacate in federal court IF you meet strict guidelines. (No matter how long your state gives you to file your post conviction, and, for instance, Florida gives you two years’ time, you have only 365 or fewer days to file in state court to STOP the federal clock from running. In other words if you file in state court in the fifteenth month after conviction, if you receive a negative result, you cannot later challenge that in federal court. Confusing? Yep.) Call Kate.
Ms. Bonner has represented dozens of individuals in federal and state post conviction cases.