A criminal appeal is a formal request to rehear a case that has already been decided -- a request that a new court reconsider the decision of the first court. When one or both sides of a case that has already been decided think there was a mistake made at trial, they can file an appeal. An appeal is entirely different than a jury trial. There is no testimony taken. The court of appeals decides the case entirely upon the written briefs filed by your attorney and the offie of the Attorney General who represents the prosecution and asks that the conviction be upheld.
Bentonia is a town in Yazoo County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 500 at the 2000 census. Some blues scholars maintain that there is a "Bentonia School" of blues singing and guitar-playing, and that "Bentonia-style" is a distinct style of Delta Blues, but Bentonia lies outside the Mississippi Delta proper. The "Bentonia School," "Bentonia-style" or "Bentonia Blues" is more accurately described as the unique, haunting, Country Blues style that originated in and immediately around the small town of Bentonia, Mississippi. The annual Bentonia Blues Festival is held the third Saturday of June in downtown Bentonia. The festival's Blues Stage is always set up in front of the world-famous Blue Front Cafe, which is still operated by proprietor Jimmy "Duck" Holmes who, as a young man, largely learned the local style from Bentonia Blues master Jack Owens.