Sample Statement of Facts for Appellate Brief

Carl Convict is seeking to have the sentencing decision of the Superior Court vacated on the grounds that the special conditions of his probation, as outlined below, violate his rights to religious freedom as guaranteed under the first amendment, made applicable to the states under the fourteenth amendment, and that they bear no relationship to the crime of which he has been convicted.

Mr. Convict was convicted of attempted unarmed robbery and sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation. Special conditions were placed upon Mr. ConvictÕs probation that require 1) that he abstain from drinking alcohol in any form, and from using illegal drugs; 2) that he submit to random urinalysis to check for alcohol and drug use; and 3) that he regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous.

Mr. Convict is a member of the Bacchus Church whose tenets require members to drink one glass of ŌHoly WineĶ (an alcoholic beverage) each day or risk eternal damnation. The Bacchus Church also requires that its members take sole responsibility for their fate, and not share that responsibility with any other being. These beliefs and practices are in direct conflict with those of Alcoholics Anonymous. The components of each, the Bacchus Church and Alcoholics Anonymous, are, in fact, mutually exclusive.

It is undisputed that neither alcohol nor drugs in any way contributed to the offense of which Mr. Convict was convicted. And Mr. Convict does attest to overcoming a past alcohol issue.

The circumstances surrounding Mr. ConvictÕs offense were simply that after attempts to obtain money for his wifeÕs cancer treatment by any and all legal means failed, he attempted robbery, unarmed. This was Mr. ConvictÕs first conviction for any crime.