Aaron Weisman, Assistant Attorney General, Unit Chief

The Appellate Unit performs essentially three functions. First and foremost, it is responsible for persuading the Rhode Island Supreme Court to affirm criminal judgments of conviction. Along this same line, the Unit is also the State's advocate in a host of other criminal (or criminally related) appellate matters, including those relating to sentencing, to the adjudication of probation violation, and to pretrial and post-conviction relief matters. In carrying out its function in all of these appellate matters, the Unit employs a variety of vehicles (including statutory appeal provisions and extraordinary writs), assumes whatever posture is appropriate (appellee, appellant, petitioner, respondent) and seeks to persuade the Rhode Island Supreme Court of the correctness of its position through the quality of its written submissions and, where permitted, its oral advocacy. In carrying out this function, the members of the Unit are ever mindful that the arguments and positions advanced in any given case may, and often do, have a significant impact upon the development of the law.

The second function of the Appellate Unit is to defend the federal constitutionality of state judgments of conviction from attack in Federal District Court by prisoners in state custody. Such attacks are brought pursuant to the federal habeas corpus provisions of 28 United States Code §2254. Because the United States Congress has imposed significant procedural hurdles to a §2254 petition, the major focus of the Unit in repelling such an attack is to raise the myriad of available procedural defenses. Thus, the members of the Appellate Unit must also become specialists in federal habeas corpus law.

Finally, the third essential function of the Unit is to provide research assistance to the prosecutors. Although this may take on many forms, most commonly it consists of assisting with questions that arise, or are anticipated to arise, during trial. On occasion, the appellate attorneys are also responsible for preparing written memoranda at the trial level or in conducting in-depth research assignments.