What is a criminal appeal?
8 January 2026 in Criminal Law | 3 min read | skip to FAQsThis brief article outlines what a criminal appeal is, when is it granted, time limits and the legal mechanisms involved. In simple terms, a criminal appeal is an application that is made to have a legal decision reconsidered by a higher court than the court that made the original decision.
In NSW, if you have received a conviction and sentence for a criminal offence in the local court you have the right to seek an appeal in the District Court. You can seek an appeal of your conviction or your sentence or both. The availability of these appeals is restricted by certain time limits.
Types of Criminal Appeal
Conviction Appeal
A conviction appeal is an appeal against being found guilty of an offence by the Local Court.
Seeking a conviction appeal is appropriate if you believe that you should not have been found guilty of an offence by the Local Court. Seeking a conviction appeal will result in the District Court rehearing your case and making its own determination of whether you should be found guilty of an offence.
If you want to rely on new evidence in your appeal, you will need the District Court’s permission to do so. For the District Court to allow new evidence to be assessed in a conviction appeal, it must be satisfied that it is ‘in the interests of justice’ that the new evidence is used. The District Court judge upon rehearing your case may confirm or set aside your conviction. To set aside a conviction means that you have been found not guilty.
It is important to remember that when seeking a conviction appeal you must lodge a notice of the appeal within 28 days following your conviction. You may also seek the court’s permission to postpone the conviction appeal application for up to three months following your conviction.
Severity appeal
A severity appeal is an appeal against the sentence imposed for an offence by the Local Court.
Seeking a severity appeal is appropriate where you believe that the sentence imposed by the Local Court is too severe. In the severity appeal the District Court will rehear the evidence given in the original hearing and consider whether your sentence was impacted by an error of the sentencing judge’s discretion. In a sentencing appeal new evidence can be given for the court to consider. Upon rehearing of the evidence, the District Court will either dismiss the appeal, set aside the sentence or vary the sentence.
If a judge is considering a more severe penalty during your appeal, the judge will be required to notify you of this. Following this notification, you may want to consider whether you want to withdraw your severity appeal.
It is important to remember when seeking a severity appeal, that you must lodge a notice of the appeal within 28 days following your conviction. However, as with a conviction appeal, you may seek the court’s permission to make a severity appeal for up to three months following your conviction.
How can BSM Sydney Lawyer assist you?
The criminal defence lawyers at Brander Smith McKnight Sydney Lawyers are committed to assisting you in appealing court decisions that you are unsatisfied with. We will listen carefully, fully assess your matter and provide you with an outline of the appeal process. Our criminal defence lawyers are experienced with the criminal appeal process and can provide you with a detailed and accurate understanding of all aspects of the process. We will carefully explain everything to you so that you understand what is happening, costs, time limits and possible outcomes.
BSM criminal lawyers Sydney have experience in all courts including the Local Court, District Court, Children’s Court, Supreme Court and the Criminal Court of Appeal. The senior criminal lawyers at Brander Smith McKnight Sydney Lawyers offer a free 20 minute consultation.
Call us to arrange a free 20 minute no obligation consultation that includes case evaluation and cost estimate.
FAQs
Can I appeal to the Supreme Court from the Local Court?
Yes, but only in very particular circumstances. Seeking an appeal of a sentence or conviction in the Supreme Court requires that you have a question of law, fact or a mixed question of law and fact to be decided by this court.
A question of law occurs where the law may not have been applied or interpreted correctly by a judge. A question of fact occurs where an issue arising from the facts of a case requires resolution by the court. A mixed question of fact and law occurs where there are combination of issues of facts and law in a case that require resolution by a court.
Can the court extend the time limits to make appeals?
When seeking a conviction or severity appeal, you must lodge a notice of the appeal within 28 days following your conviction. Alternatively, you may also seek the court’s permission to have a severity appeal for up to three months following your conviction. The court may extend this three month period of time if required. The experienced criminal defence lawyers at BSM Sydney lawyers can assist you with this.
Can I apply for an Annulment of my Sentence?
In certain circumstances, yes. If you were absent from a local court when your case was being heard you may be able to apply for an annulment. You must prove that you were unaware that your case was on or that you were unable to appear due to an accident or illness. You have 2 years to apply for an annulment. It is important to note that you will need to appear in court at a later time to face the same charges. The experienced criminal team at BSM Sydney lawyer offer a free 20 minute consultation.
Brander Smith McKnight Lawyer Sydney has offices conveniently located in Sydney CBD, Sutherland, Parramatta, Shellharbour and Wollongong.
About the Author
Lachlan TaxBachelor of Laws I Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Economics I Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice I Admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW & the High Court of Australia
View profileLachlan Tax is a senior lawyer at Brander Smith McKnight. He is a highly accomplished criminal defence lawyer, holding a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Wollongong and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. Lachlan has significant experience in criminal law, having achieved outstanding results for his clients across a wide range of criminal matters from traffic offences to serious indictable matters such as assault. Lachlan is an expert court advocate and a senior member of the criminal defence team at BSM Sydney Criminal Lawyers. Lachlan has experience advising on a recent conviction appeal following a Building Commission NSW prosecution. He successfully negotiated with NSW Department of Customer Service to reduce convictions for 44 charges with a collective fine of over $473,000.00 to convictions for 9 charges with a collective fine of $54,000.00. Lachlan successfully sought the removal of defamatory articles regarding the original convictions across various publications including the Daily Telegraph.
