CrimLaw

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I am curious as to what kind of case this was and if there actually was some kind of argument available.

As a criminal lawyer I do a number of court appointed cases and quite often have a client order me to have a trial despite the fact that the evidence is overwhelming and then require me to appeal despite the lack of any real issue. Anders briefs are disfavored by judges; during a CLE last year one of our appellate judges stood in front of the assembled criminal lawyers, held up a three page Anders brief and informed us that he gets far too many of these (which is pretty amazing because I don't know any criminal lawyer who actually writes them). They are also one of the surest paths to get a Bar complaint.

Of course, after a while you learn to find something legal pertaining to the facts - no matter how small - which allows you to make motions to strike. Of course in some cases that isn't even available and then (if you know it's coming) you try to raise a procedural/constitutional issue which may not pertain to the facts of this particular case but pertains to all criminal trials of your type; void for vagueness, under Morales, works well for this because legislators are always writing statutes improperly. If all else fails you can argue plain error/ends of justice.

I will admit that I have submitted briefs in the past (none current) where I put everything I had into it and still knew I was going to be in serious trouble if the appellate judges were looney enough to hear it (appellate review in Virginia is discretionary). After I spent the first five minutes talking about that one California case I found to support my position (and got absolutely blasted for citing a CALIFORNIA case) I would have been in deep trouble.