The basics
An appeal is not a second trial
The court reads what the trial produced. It doesn’t hear witnesses again, and that shapes everything about the brief.
Adaline Wetherell4 min read
Appeals and post-conviction, Cheyenne
After the verdict, a second reading
Adaline Wetherell takes the cases that have already been tried. She reads the whole record, tells you plainly what a higher court can and cannot change, and writes the brief herself.
Date
The time to appeal is short and runs from the judgment, so it is counted first.Record
The transcript and exhibits the court will read, and nothing it won’t.Brief
Written, and argued if the court hears argument, by the lawyer you called.
Admitted to practice before
Where the briefs are filed
Adaline’s admissions are listed with their years on her page.
Practice
Where a case goes after the trial
Three kinds of work with one thing in common: a decision has been made, and someone wants it looked at again.
A judgment you lost and want reviewed, or one you won and mean to keep. Contract, property, business and family cases, and the orders along the way that can be appealed early.
A conviction or a sentence, reviewed on the record the trial made. Before you decide, Adaline explains which issues were preserved and which were not.
What can still be raised once the appeal is over: advice that went wrong, evidence that surfaced later, a sentence the law did not allow.
Sample matters
What the court decided, and what it didn’t
Reversed
Lease dispute, judgment for the landlord
The trial court counted one repair bill twice. The appeals court corrected the arithmetic, and the judgment fell from $62,000 to $24,500.
2025 · Sample matter
A smaller judgment is not a refund: each side still carried its own costs of the appeal.
Sentence vacated
Theft conviction, sentence above the statutory range
The sentence ran past what the statute allowed. The court sent the case back for a new sentencing hearing; the conviction itself stood.
2025 · Sample matter
A new hearing can end in a sentence close to the old one. Nothing here was an acquittal.
Affirmed
Employment contract, appeal brought by the other side
We defended a win from a bench trial. The court agreed with the trial judge on every issue raised, and the judgment stood.
2024 · Sample matter
An affirmance keeps a result in place. Defending an appeal has a cost of its own.
Sample matters, written as examples for this template; an owner replaces them with real ones. Every appeal turns on its own record, and past results don’t guarantee a similar outcome.
Writing
Two notes for the first week
Short pieces for the days after a judgment, when most of the questions are about timing.
- Deadlines
Which comes first, the motion or the appeal?
A motion filed after judgment can pause the clock or leave it running. Knowing which is the whole question.
Adaline Wetherell5 min read
Start with two pieces of paper
The judgment or order, and the date the court entered it. With those, Adaline can tell you which clock is running and whether an appeal is worth your time.