Legal Services Appellate Unit, Division of Public Defender Services (Connecticut)

The Connecticut State Division of Public Defender Services runs the Legal Services Unit, which represents eligible people on direct appeal and in habeas appeals before the Connecticut Appellate Court and Supreme Court. The page sets out eligibility: for a direct appeal a person must have been convicted of a crime, face a risk of incarceration, and have been found indigent by a trial court judge; for a habeas appeal a person must have lost their habeas case and have been found indigent by a trial court judge. It explains that an appeal reviews the on-the-record trial court proceedings and that no new evidence may be presented, and describes the appellate lawyer's work of reading the full transcript, reviewing exhibits and the court file, identifying legal errors, filing a brief and appearing for oral argument. The unit also supports trial attorneys in preserving the record and raising novel legal issues.