How are Illinois' Appellate and

  Supreme Courts Organized?
    The Illinois Appellate Court is the first court of appeal for allcriminal cases except those involving death penalty (which areautomatically appealed directly from the Circuit Court to the IllinoisSupreme Court) and those criminal appeals in which an applicablefederal or state statute has been held invalid. Either the defense orprosecution may appeal rulings of the trial court. However, becausethe law protects a defendant from being tried twice for the samecrime, the prosecution cannot appeal a not-guilty verdict.
 

    The main function of both the Appellate and Supreme courts inIllinois is to ensure that the trial court correctly interpreted the law ina given case. For example, the defense may argue before theAppellate Court that unconstitutionally obtained evidence wasadmitted by the trial court. The Appellate Court can take one ofseveral actions on such an appeal. It can deny the petition for appealoutright. Or, if the court decides the appeal has merit, it can affirm,reverse, modify or vacate the original decision，or it can remand thecase back to the lower court for reconsideration.  In the latterinstance, the Appellate Court may order a new trial but specify thequestionable evidence that had been introduced in the first trial beheld  inadmissible  in  the  new  trial. Under certain  limitedcircumstances, decisions of the Appellate Court can be appealed tothe Illinois Supreme court, the highest court in the state.

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