Lost your criminal trial in Indiana? Here’s what to do next.
Losing a criminal trial is one of the worst days of a person’s life. The verdict comes in, the courtroom feels small, and suddenly the question is no longer whether the State can prove its case. The question is what happens now. If you lost a criminal trial in Indiana, you have rights that did not disappear when the gavel fell, and you have a short window to use them. The most important thing to understand right now is that you do not have unlimited time to figure this out. The clock started the moment the judgment was entered, and Indiana law gives you a tight window to take the first formal step.
This post walks through what comes next after a guilty verdict in Indiana, what an appeal actually is (and is not), the deadlines you cannot miss, and how to think clearly about your options when everything feels urgent.
The 30-day deadline you cannot miss
Under Indiana Appellate Rule 9, a Notice of Appeal must be filed with the Clerk within thirty days after the entry of a Final Judgment is noted in the Chronological Case Summary. In a criminal case, that usually means thirty days from sentencing. Miss that deadline and you can lose your right to a direct appeal entirely.
There is one common wrinkle worth knowing about. If a timely motion to correct error is filed, the thirty-day deadline generally shifts so that it runs from the date the motion is denied or deemed denied. That is a procedural detail that matters for calendaring purposes, and it is one of the reasons you want a lawyer who handles appeals looking at your case promptly rather than guessing at dates.
This is why we wrote a whole post about why you should not wait to talk to an appellate lawyer. The trial lawyer who handled your case may or may not handle appeals, and even if they do, the strategic clock is already running, because transcripts have to be ordered, the record has to be assembled, and an appellate attorney needs time to review what happened at trial and identify what can actually be raised on appeal. Thirty days goes faster than people expect, especially with the holidays, family obligations, and the weight of everything else that follows a conviction.
What an appeal actually is, and what it is not
An appeal is not a do-over. The Court of Appeals of Indiana does not retry your case. There is no new jury, no new witnesses, and no new evidence presented to the appellate judges. Instead, a panel of appellate judges reads the trial record, reads the briefs filed by both sides, and decides whether the trial court made a legal error serious enough to require reversal or a new trial.
That distinction matters because it shapes everything about appellate strategy. If you walked out of court convinced that a witness lied, that the jury got it wrong, or that the prosecutor was unfair, those feelings are valid, but they are not, by themselves, grounds for appeal. The appellate court is not in the business of reweighing evidence or second-guessing credibility calls. Appellate courts generally only consider issues that were preserved at the trial level, and new arguments or evidence introduced for the first time on appeal are usually not available.
What appellate courts do look for are legal errors. Did the trial court let in evidence it should have kept out? Did it keep out evidence it should have allowed? Were the jury instructions wrong? Was the sentence outside what the statute permits? Was there enough evidence, as a matter of law, to support the conviction at all? These are the kinds of questions an appellate brief is built around. Our overview of how appeals work with an appeals attorney in Indiana goes deeper into the mechanics.
Common grounds for appeal in an Indiana criminal case
Every case is different, and the grounds for appeal depend entirely on what happened at your trial. That said, certain issues come up repeatedly in Indiana criminal appeals.
Evidentiary rulings are a frequent battleground. If the judge admitted a statement, a piece of physical evidence, or testimony that should have been excluded under the rules of evidence, and that ruling affected the outcome, that can be a viable issue. The same is true in reverse, where defense evidence was wrongly kept out.
Sentencing is its own category. The Indiana Rules of Appellate Procedure give defendants the right to challenge a sentence as inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender, and the appellate court has authority to revise it. Sentencing errors also include the trial court relying on improper aggravators, ignoring valid mitigators, or imposing something the statute does not authorize.
Sufficiency of the evidence is a harder argument but a real one. The appellate court does not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. It looks at the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and asks whether there is substantial evidence of probative value supporting each element of the offense. Where the State’s proof on a specific element was thin, this argument has teeth.
Jury instructions, prosecutorial misconduct, and constitutional violations round out the most common categories. Ineffective assistance of counsel is also a recognized basis for relief, though that claim is most often raised through post-conviction relief rather than direct appeal.
The threshold question for almost all of these is whether the issue was preserved. If your trial lawyer objected at the right moment and made a clear record, the appellate court reviews it on the merits. If not, you are usually left arguing fundamental error, which is a much higher bar. A good appellate lawyer will read the transcript carefully and tell you which issues are real and which are not. Our post on navigating a criminal appeal in Indiana covers this in more detail.
Direct appeal versus post-conviction relief
Indiana gives convicted defendants two main paths to challenge a conviction, and they serve different purposes.
A direct appeal is what most people think of when they hear the word “appeal.” It is filed within thirty days of the judgment, it is based on the existing trial record, and it argues that the trial court made errors of law. This is the path for things the trial judge did or did not do, the evidentiary rulings, the sentencing, the sufficiency challenges.
Post-conviction relief is a separate proceeding filed after the criminal case is final. It is the vehicle for issues that depend on evidence outside the trial record, the most common being ineffective assistance of counsel, where you are arguing that your trial lawyer’s performance was constitutionally deficient and that it changed the outcome. Newly discovered evidence and certain constitutional claims also belong here.
The two paths are connected in important ways. Issues that were raised and decided on direct appeal generally cannot be relitigated in post-conviction relief, and issues that could have been raised on direct appeal but were not are generally treated as waived. That is why the choices you make in the first thirty days after a conviction matter so much. They shape what is available to you later. If you are dealing with a misdemeanor rather than a felony, our post on appealing a misdemeanor conviction walks through the same framework at the misdemeanor level.
How long it takes and what it costs
There is no honest way to give a fixed answer to either question, but there are realistic ranges. Most Indiana criminal appeals take a few months, although they can run anywhere from several months to more than a year depending on a number of factors, including the length of the trial transcript, whether either side requests extensions, and the court’s docket. If the case goes on to a petition to transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court, add more time on top of that.
Cost depends on the complexity of the case, the length of the record, and the issues involved. A short bench trial appeal is not the same animal as a multi-week jury trial with hundreds of exhibits. We break this down in more detail in our post on how long an appeal takes in Indiana and what it costs, but the right answer for any specific case comes from a real conversation with an appellate lawyer who has read the basic facts.
One practical point worth knowing: filing a Notice of Appeal does not automatically pause your sentence. If you want to seek a stay or release pending appeal, that is a separate motion with its own standards, and it should be raised early.
What to do this week
If you lost a criminal trial in Indianapolis, Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, or anywhere else in central Indiana, here is the practical sequence. Get a copy of the sentencing order and confirm the date the judgment was entered on the Chronological Case Summary. Write that date down, count thirty days forward, and put that deadline somewhere you cannot ignore. Then call an appellate lawyer this week, not next month and not after the holidays.
A consultation with an appellate attorney does not commit you to filing an appeal. It gives you a real read on whether you have viable issues, what the process looks like in your specific case, and what the realistic outcomes are. Even if the answer is that an appeal is a long shot, you deserve to hear that from someone who actually evaluated your case rather than guess.
Frequently asked questions about appealing a criminal conviction in Indiana
How long do I have to appeal a criminal conviction in Indiana?
Thirty days from the entry of the final judgment in the Chronological Case Summary, which in most criminal cases means thirty days from sentencing. If a timely motion to correct error is filed, the deadline generally becomes thirty days after that motion is denied or deemed denied.
Can I appeal if my lawyer didn’t object at trial?
Sometimes, but it is harder. Indiana appellate courts generally only review issues that were preserved through a proper objection at trial. Unpreserved issues are reviewed under a fundamental error standard, which is a much higher bar. Failures by trial counsel are usually addressed in a post-conviction relief proceeding rather than on direct appeal.
Do I stay out of jail while my appeal is pending?
Not automatically. Filing a Notice of Appeal does not stay your sentence. To remain out of custody during the appeal, you would need to seek a stay or appellate bond, which is a separate request with its own legal standards.
Can I get a new lawyer for my criminal appeal?
Yes. You are not required to use the same lawyer who handled your trial. Many people hire a separate appellate attorney because appellate work is a different discipline from trial work. Our post on finding the right appeals attorney in Indianapolis walks through what to look for.
What are my chances of winning a criminal appeal in Indiana?
Most criminal appeals do not result in reversal. Appellate courts give significant deference to trial court rulings, and the standards of review are designed to make reversal the exception. Cases with strong preserved issues, clear legal errors, or sentencing problems can and do succeed, but the only way to know whether yours is one of them is to have an appellate lawyer read the record.
Can I appeal just the sentence and not the conviction?
Yes. Indiana law allows a defendant to appeal the sentence on the ground that it is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender, separate from challenging the underlying conviction.
What’s the difference between a direct appeal and post-conviction relief?
A direct appeal challenges the trial court’s rulings based on the existing record and is filed within thirty days of judgment. Post-conviction relief is a separate proceeding filed afterward, used for claims that require evidence outside the trial record, such as ineffective assistance of counsel or newly discovered evidence.
How much does a criminal appeal cost in Indiana?
It depends on the complexity of the case, the length of the trial record, and the issues raised. There is also a Clerk’s filing fee. The most reliable way to get a real number is a consultation with an appellate lawyer who can review the basics of your case.
Talk to an Indiana appellate attorney before the clock runs out
If you or someone you love just lost a criminal trial in Indiana, the next thirty days matter more than the next thirty months. The team at Fugate Gangstad Lowe handles criminal appeals throughout central Indiana, including Indianapolis, Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, and the surrounding Hamilton County and Marion County area. We will review what happened at trial, give you a straight answer about whether an appeal makes sense, and if it does, we will get to work fast.
Call us at 317-829-6797 or reach out through our contact form to set up a consultation. You can also learn more about our appellate practice before you call.
The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice tailored to your situation, please contact our firm directly.