Miami Federal Appeals Lawyer

Your trial is over. The sentence has been handed down. You keep replaying every moment of it, wondering if this is the end.

It may not be.

A federal appeal is not a formality. For most people convicted in federal court, it is the last real chance to change what happened.

Jeffrey S. Weiner personally argued Florida v Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248 (1991) before the United States Supreme Court. The ruling is still cited by lawyers and taught in law schools today. He has taken federal sentences to the U.S. Court of Appeals and had them set aside, sending clients back for a real second chance at a fair result.

Contact us today and tell us where your case stands right now. We will give you a straight answer on whether an appeal can help, and if it can, we will start on it immediately.

Jeffrey S. Weiner has been selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2006 through 2026. Florida Trend has placed him in its Legal Elite, a list drawn from the top 2% of Florida Bar members. Martindale-Hubbell rates him AV Preeminent, its highest rating for both skill and ethics. He is a Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer by the National Board of Trial Advocacies, a certification held by a small fraction of Florida attorneys. In 1985 he received the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Robert C. Heeney Award, given to one attorney nationwide each year.

Case Results

The odds of reversing a federal court decision are not always in a convicted person’s favor. However, Jeffrey S. Weiner has won multiple appeals, including:

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case.

Federal Appeals We Handle

Federal appeals cover more ground than many people realize, and the right strategy depends on exactly where your case stands right now, whether you are days away from sentencing or already years into a sentence. Some of the cases we handle include:

• Direct appeals of federal criminal convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals
• Appeals of federal sentences, including guideline calculation errors and unreasonably long sentences
• Petitions asking the United States Supreme Court to review a case
• Appeals of federal asset forfeiture orders
• Post-conviction petitions challenging a conviction or sentence after a direct appeal has ended
• Ineffective assistance of counsel claims against prior trial counsel
• Appeals arising from federal white collar, securities, and financial crime convictions
• Appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and Florida’s District Courts of Appeal
• Emergency motions for bond or release pending the outcome of an appeal

Each path has its own deadlines and its own rules, and the wrong decision can close a door permanently.

What’s at Stake for You Now

The clock starts the moment you are sentenced. In most federal criminal cases, you have only about 14 days to file a notice of appeal, and missing that window can end your right to appeal forever.

An appeal is not a new trial. There are no new witnesses, no new evidence, nothing you wish you had said. The court reviews only what already happened on the record, which means every legal error has to be found and argued correctly the first time.

Jeffrey S. Weiner has spent over 50 years learning exactly how that record gets read. He is a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the country’s leading criminal defense bar, and he co-authored O’Connor’s Federal Rules and Codes Plus, a federal procedure reference now in its 13th edition and used by judges and attorneys nationwide. That level of federal procedure knowledge is uncommon among Florida appellate attorneys.

Why a Federal Appeal Is Different From a State Appeal

A federal appeal follows a different path than a state appeal, and the difference matters more than many clients realize. State cases from Miami-Dade generally move through Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, or in rare cases the Florida Supreme Court. Federal cases move through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, under federal rules, federal deadlines, and a different standard for how much deference a sentencing judge is given on review.

Jeffrey S. Weiner has argued appeals decided by Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, and he has also argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. That range means he knows which arguments carry weight in a state appellate panel and which ones only work in front of a federal circuit court, and he does not guess between the two. 

How We Work

1. We review your full trial and sentencing record within days of taking your case, because federal appeal deadlines do not wait for anyone, and a late notice of appeal cannot be fixed later.
2. We identify every legal error in the case, from suppressed evidence to sentencing guideline miscalculations, and we flag which ones were properly preserved for appeal and which ones were not.
3. We write the opening brief ourselves, start to finish. Jeffrey Weiner is admitted to argue before seven different federal circuit courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court.
4. When a case calls for it, we petition the United States Supreme Court for review, something few Miami attorneys have handled personally.
5. We stand up and argue the case ourselves at every stage, the same way Jeffrey Weiner has argued before the nation’s highest court, rather than handing oral argument to someone less familiar with your record.

Local Courthouse and Filing Information

Most federal criminal cases in Miami are tried at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse, 400 North Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida 33128, home of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. That is where your notice of appeal gets filed first, and where the trial record that your entire appeal depends on is created and preserved.

From there, your appeal moves to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, headquartered at the Elbert P. Tuttle U.S. Court of Appeals Building, 56 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia. Many Miami attorneys who rarely handle federal appeals have never set foot in that building. The Eleventh Circuit also keeps a divisional clerk’s office in Miami at 99 Northeast Fourth Street. If your case ever reaches the United States Supreme Court, it sits in Washington, D.C., a courtroom where Jeffrey Weiner has personally stood and argued a case to a decision.

What Winning an Appeal Actually Means

Winning a federal appeal does not always mean walking free the same day, and no honest attorney will promise that it does. It can mean the U.S. Court of Appeals sends your case back for a new sentencing hearing, where years can come off what you were originally given. It can mean a conviction is thrown out entirely and the government has to decide whether to retry the case at all. It can mean a forfeiture order is reversed and property or money comes back to your family. Every outcome starts the same way: someone reading the record closely enough to find the error the first attorney missed, and knowing exactly how to put that error in front of the right court, in the right language, before the deadline to raise it closes for good.

Frequently Asked Questions

What results have you gotten in federal appeals cases?

Jeffrey Weiner personally argued Florida v. Jimeno before the United States Supreme Court and has had federal sentences set aside and remanded for resentencing by the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

Can my trial lawyer just handle my appeal?

They can, but appeals require a different skill set than trial work. A fresh set of eyes trained specifically in appellate law often catches errors that trial counsel, focused on the trial itself, never flagged.

What happens if I miss the deadline to appeal?

Missing the deadline generally forfeits your right to a direct appeal. Some limited post-conviction options may still exist, but they are far narrower and harder to win.

Where will my appeal be heard?

Cases from the Southern District of Florida go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, based in Atlanta, though the court also keeps a divisional office in Miami.

Can I introduce new evidence during my appeal?

No. An appeal reviews only the existing trial record. That is why finding every legal error already in that record matters so much.

What if my sentence was calculated using the wrong guidelines?

Sentencing guideline errors are grounds for a federal appeal, and they must be raised precisely to preserve them. Common mistakes include miscalculating your criminal history category, applying the wrong base offense level, or adding an enhancement the facts do not support.

Will you take my appeal if you were not my trial attorney?

Yes, we may still take your case. Some of this firm’s strongest results came in cases where Jeffrey Weiner was retained only for the appeal.

What does a consultation cost, and is it confidential?

Initial consultations are free, and every conversation with this firm is confidential.

Do you handle appeals for cases outside Miami-Dade County?

Yes. Federal appeals from anywhere in the Southern District of Florida go through the same Eleventh Circuit process, and this firm has handled federal appeals across the country, not only in South Florida. Jeff Weiner is admitted to practice before seven of the United States Courts of Appeals.

What should I bring to my first meeting about an appeal?

Bring your judgment and sentencing paperwork if you have it, along with the name and contact information for your trial attorney. It is not required, but it speeds up the first review of your case. If we need additional information, we will discuss it with you at or before our first meeting.

Can a federal appeal lower my sentence even if my conviction stands?

Yes. Many federal appeals challenge only the sentence, not the conviction itself, often by arguing the sentencing guidelines were calculated incorrectly or that the sentence was unreasonably long given the facts of the case.

How is a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court different from a regular appeal?

The Supreme Court does not have to take your case. A petition for certiorari asks the Court to agree to hear it, which happens in only a small fraction of cases filed each year, so the petition itself has to be built carefully.

Does the outcome of my trial affect whether an appeal is worth pursuing?

Not necessarily. Some of the strongest appeals come from cases where the trial went badly for reasons that had nothing to do with guilt or innocence, such as an incorrect jury instruction or a suppressed piece of evidence that should have been allowed.

If you are weighing whether an appeal is worth pursuing, the fastest way to find out is to have someone who has won at this level look at your case.

Call Jeffrey S. Weiner, P.A. Today

If you are facing a federal appeal, weighing whether to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court to review your case, or simply trying to understand what happens next, do not wait. You have a limited amount of time to act.

Call Jeffrey S. Weiner, P.A. at (305) 670-9919 — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Free initial consultations. All communications are confidential.