When must the presiding judge tell a defendant about appealing, and what must that notification cover?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material of this kind, we check the copy of the judgment to see whether a sentence was pronounced, and the trial record for any note that the presiding judge told the defendant the period for appeal and the court that would hear it.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading makes the duty arise exactly where a sentence is pronounced: the presiding judge, and not some other member of the court, must notify the defendant of the period for appeal and of the court to which the appeal goes, and nothing in the provision makes the duty depend on the defendant asking for it.
Another reading stresses that the provision speaks only of a defendant and only where a sentence is pronounced, so it leaves open how the notification is given, in what form it should appear, and what follows if the trial record shows no such notification at all.
Your judgment
If the record carries no note of this notification, what else in the file could show whether the defendant was told the period for appeal and the court to appeal to?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to widen who must be notified or to prescribe a form for the notification, or if a court decision explains what follows where the notification was not given.