Alaska Court System Self-Help: After Sentencing, Appeals and Post-Conviction Relief (Alaska)

The Alaska Court System Self-Help Center explains the two routes open to a defendant unhappy with a trial outcome: an appeal to a higher court, or post-conviction relief. It states that a defendant may appeal where there was not enough evidence to justify the verdict or where mistakes of law before or during trial hurt the case, and that a defendant may also appeal a misdemeanor sentence longer than 120 days or a felony sentence longer than 2 years. It explains that an appeal is not a new trial and no new evidence may be submitted. On post-conviction relief, it states that within 180 days after sentencing a convicted defendant may file a motion with the trial judge arguing ineffective assistance of counsel, newly discovered evidence, or that the judge misunderstood the law, and that an illegal sentence can be corrected at any time.