A person convicted of a crime in Texas has the statutory right to appeal his or her conviction. Additionally, a convicted person has the right to counsel on appeal. All attorneys listed on this site will represent you on appeal.

Unlike habeas corpus proceedings, a direct appeal is limited to errors that appear in the record of trial. As an example, suppose a defendant stands accused of a crime which is known to have occurred on a specific date. The defendant tells his lawyer that he was in Chicago for a month before and after that date. To back up his alibi, he provides the lawyer with the names of 10 witnesses who can verify his presence in Chicago during that period. If the lawyer fails to interview the witnesses and/or doesn't call them to testify at trial and the defendant is convicted, the record of trial will demonstrate that the 10 witnesses did not testify. Why they didn't testify probably will not appear in the record. If it does, the lawyer's deficient performance could be a ground raised on direct appeal. If it does not appear in the record, then it can only be raised in a habeas corpus proceeding subsequent to the direct appeal, if the appeal is not successful on other grounds.