1. Introduction
This section describes the record on appeal in a direct criminal appeal from the trial court to the appellate court. A "direct appeal" is an appeal from a conviction or sentence in a criminal case. An appeal from an order on a postconviction motion, such as a motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800, 3.801, 3.850, or 3.853, is a "postconviction appeal." The next section, section (F), will describe preparation of a record in a postconviction appeal. See also Fla. R. App. P. 9.140 (criminal appeals) and 9.141 (postconviction appeals).2. Timing
In a criminal appeal, the lower tribunal clerk will serve a copy of the record on the parties and electronically file the record in the appellate court within 50 days of the filing of the notice of appeal unless the proceedings designated for transcription by the parties are not timely filed with the lower tribunal clerk. If the designated transcripts are late, the clerk will serve a notice of inability to complete the record on the appellate court, the parties, and the court reporter. The record is then due within 20 days of the date that the court reporter files the transcripts with the lower tribunal clerk.3. Costs
If a criminal defendant does not have the money for a criminal appeal, the defendant may ask the trial court to declare him indigent. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.430; §§ 57.081, 57.085 Fla. Stat. If the trial court agrees that the party is indigent, the indigent party does not have to pay for the transcripts, but still must prepare and serve a statement of judicial acts to be reviewed and a designation to the court reporter. The statement of judicial acts to be reviewed lists all of the issues the appellant intends to bring up on appeal. The appellant's designation to the court reporter should list only the proceedings that relate to the issues that the indigent party is planning to bring up in the appeal. Copies of the statement of judicial acts to be reviewed and the designation to the court reporter should be served on the State.When the record on appeal has been prepared, the clerk’s office will send the State and, if the defendant has been declared indigent, the defendant or his appointed attorney, a copy of the record on appeal. If the defendant has not been found indigent, the lower tribunal clerk will send him a copy of the index to the record on appeal, as the clerk’s office does in a civil appeal.
