Minnesota Court of Appeals Help Topics

Filing a Criminal Appeal (Generally)

​This page will give you general guidance only for filing a criminal appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals. If you were convicted of first-degree murder, you must file an appeal with the Minnesota Supreme Court. You should carefully review this information, but you must also read the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure and, where applicable, the Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure. If you do not do so, you may miss a deadline or an important step, and you could lose your opportunity to appeal.

Time to Appeal

There are different filing deadlines for different types of criminal appeals.  In general, a criminal defendant has 90 days after sentencing to appeal a felony or gross misdemeanor conviction, 30 days to appeal a misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor conviction, 90 days to appeal a felony sentence, and 60 days to appeal an order denying a postconviction petition.

You must read rule 28.02, subdivision 4(3) of the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure (abbreviated "Minn. R. Crim. P.") to confirm the deadline that applies to your appeal.

The Court of Appeals may extend the time for a defendant to appeal in a criminal case for up to 30 days, but you must make a motion and show "good cause" to get an extension. No extension period is available if you are filing a sentencing or probation revocation appeal under Minn. R. Crim. P. 28.05.

To figure out the deadline for filing and serving documents, apply these rules:

• Do not count the day of the event that starts the time period (the date of filing of the district court's order; the date of service of the respondent's brief), but start counting the next day.
• Continue counting calendar days. Do not skip weekends or legal holidays.
• If the last day of the period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, then the deadline is the next business day.

Court Holidays

Eligibility for Public Defender

If you had a previous appeal involving the same felony, gross misdemeanor, or misdemeanor conviction, and you were represented by an attorney from the Office of the Minnesota Appellate Public Defender in that appeal, you may not be entitled to an appointed attorney for any subsequent appeal. See Minn. Stat. § 611.25, subd. 1(a)(2). If this is your first appeal on this conviction, and you meet certain financial eligiblity requirements, you may be entitled to a public defender on appeal.

You must apply to:

Office of the Minnesota Appellate Public Defender
540 Fairview Avenue North, Suite 300
St. Paul, MN  55104
(651) 219-4444

In some cases, the appellate public defender's office may pay for the preparation of a transcript, even if the office does not have to provide you with an attorney on appeal. You should contact that office for more information.

You, as the appealing party, are called the appellant. The other party in a criminal appeal is the State of Minnesota and is called the respondent. The State of Minnesota is represented by the county attorney and the Minnesota Attorney General.

Criminal appeals require you to pay a $550 filing fee to the Clerk of the Appellate Courts, but the filing fee will be waived if the Office of the Minnesota Appellate Public Defender has determined that you are indigent. A defendant who is indigent must apply to the appellate public defender, who will evaluate the defendant's financial resources and eligiblity. However, no filing fees are required to file a postconviction appeal under Minn. Stat. § 590.06.

The brief is your written argument on appeal. You must file your brief with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts and serve it on respondent's attorney. See Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 131.03.  You must also file proof of service for the brief with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts (see the Proof of Service tab, above, for more information).

If you ordered transcripts of the district court proceedings, in most criminal appeals you must serve and file your appellant's brief within 63 days after the date that the court reporter mailed the transcript to you. See Minn. R. Crim. P. 28.02, subd. 10; Minn. R. Crim. P. 34.04. If no transcript was ordered and prepared for the appeal, then you must serve and file your brief within 60 days of filing the notice of appeal. See Minn. R. Crim. P. 28.02, subd. 10. The Court will not remind you of this deadline.

The appellant must file a brief explaining why the district court's decision should be reversed, or the appeal will be dismissed. See Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 142.02.

There are three types of briefs:

• a formal brief, which must be bound and include a table of contents, a statement of the legal issues, a statement of the case and the facts, an argument, a conclusion, and an addendum (see Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 128.02, Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 130.02);
• an informal brief, which may be stapled and includes a written argument and addendum (see Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 128.01, subd. 1); or
• a short letter argument that supplements written arguments submitted to the district court.  This type of brief can be used only when written arguments were filed in the district court in support of the postconviction petition. When it is used, it may be stapled (not formally bound by a printer), and it must include an addendum (see Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 128.01, subd. 2).

Many pro se postconviction appellants file an informal brief. Every appellant's brief, no matter what form used, must include an addendum. The addendum must include, at the least, a copy of the district court order being appealed. See Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 130.02.

A sentencing or probation revocation appeal, however, has very short briefing deadlines and requires you to file an informal sentencing or probation revocation brief. You should review Minn. R. Crim. P. 28.05.

Additional Information about Criminal Appeals

For additional information applicable to criminal appeals, including the stages of an appeal, the record, the transcript, and motions, click the Overview link on the left.

For additional information about filing and serving documents in an appeal, click the Proof of Service link on the left.
 

Questions?

Clerk of the Appellate Courts
305 Minnesota Judicial Center
25 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN  55155
(651) 291-5297
8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday - Friday

NOTE: The Clerk's Office can answer questions about the Court's procedures and rules, but cannot fill out the forms for you or give you any legal advice about your case.