Q: What should I do when a lawyer knows that my case could've been won?
I had an attorney for another law firm tell me that when they worked for my trial lawyer they looked at my case and they told me that my trial lawyer "screwed me over". my trial lawyer filed a motion to suppress evidence but never showed up, the motion was because I was held at MMC in portland in a conference room by a security guard who was deputized by Maine State Police to not let me go anywhere and the guard openly told my trial lawyer this information and even my Private investigator. I filed post convictions which one was thrown out by the appellate court because the superior court failed to attach a lawyer to it and the second my post-conviction lawyer didn't know how to fight it/
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A: The procedure for challenging a conviction due to errors by trial counsel is a post-conviction review for ineffective assistance of counsel. Once the post-conviction process is final in the State court, you can file a petition for review in the federal court. There are strict time limits for filing such petitions in the federal court. Generally speaking, a person has 1 year to file a federal habeas petition after the State court judgment is final. The time the case is pending on appeals in the State court is excluded from this time period. You should consult with a federal habeas petition lawyer regarding these time-limits.
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