Courts-Martial Appeals

After a conviction by a court-martial, the appeals process is your last chance to reverse the conviction or reduce your sentence. A court-martial appeal is specialized work. It demands a military defense lawyer who knows both the military and federal civilian court systems inside out.

David Sheldon will make sure your appeal is not wasted. As the counsel of record in more than 90 published court-martial appeals, he has the solid experience that a successful appeal requires. He follows every avenue to make a court-martial appeal successful.

Although the military will provide you with an appointed attorney to handle your appeal, many of these attorneys have no trial experience. Even worse, because of military transfers, several different appointed lawyers could take on your case in the months or years it takes to be reviewed.

If you have received a punitive discharge (bad-conduct discharge, dishonorable discharge, or dismissal) or more than a year in jail, then you have an absolute right to appeal your court-martial. You may appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals for your service (Army, Navy-Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard); the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; and even the U.S. Supreme Court.

In appeals court, Mr. Sheldon repeatedly has been able to reverse decisions and convictions based on his clients’ ineffective counsel, command influence, and immunity. In one especially notable case, he used the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to have a death sentence set aside for a prisoner who had been on Death Row since 1988—and then successfully defended the decision before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Blue v. Cockrell, (298 F.3d 318 (5th Cir. 2002)). [Click here to view the case summary]

By entrusting your appeal to Mr. Sheldon, you will be guaranteed aggressive, thorough, and consistent representation throughout the process. He will take the following steps:

• Review every detail of your trial record to determine if there are grounds for a successful appeal—and give you a straight answer if there are not.
• Research and brief all issues with merit.
• Petition the appropriate appellate courts for relief.
• Keep you informed of the progress of your case.
• Argue your appeal before the courts.

Examples of David Sheldon’s Results:

• Grant of testimonial immunity—which prevents the use of the defendant’s testimony in the criminal trial against him—for two Marine officers accused of murder. Cunningham v. Gilevich, 36 M.J. 94 (CMA 1992)
• Sentence set aside and soldier retired. United States v. Eversole, 53 M.J. 132 (CAAF 2000)
• Marine released from prison through grant of Petition for Coram Nobis—a finding that a “fundamental error" or "manifest injustice" has been committed. Garrett v. Lowe, 39 M.J. 293 (CMA 1994)
• Case remanded (sent back to lower court) based on claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. United States v. Grigoruk, 52 M.J. 312 (CAAF 2000)
• Sexual harassment conviction overturned. United States v. Peszynski, 40 M.J. 874 (NMCMR 1994)
• Rape conviction reversed. United States v. Powell, 49 M.J. 220 (CMA 1998)
• Obstruction of justice charges set aside. United States v. Reyes, 37 M.J. 579 (NMCMR 1993)
• Tailhook case remanded (sent back to lower court), where charges were dismissed. Samples v. Vest, 38 M.J. 482 (CMA 1994)
• BAH conviction overturned. United States v. Tatum, 34 M.J. 1115 (NMCMR 1992)