Trying to appeal my son's sentence. How can I find out the status of the appeal?

From the time of sentencing, your son has only 30 days within which to file a "Notice of Appeal."  Failure to file the "Notice of Appeal" within that period can deprive your son of ever being able to appeal his case. (There are a few exceptions -- but they are very limited and hard to achieve.) In Florida, he "Notice of Appeal" (along with a few other pleadings) are to be filed by the trial attorney even if your son plans to use a different attorney to do the appeal.  If your son does not have sufficient funds to retain a private attorney for the appeal, he (or his trial attorney, on behalf of your son) should file to have the Public Defender appointed for the appeal.  That should be done at, or close to, the same time as the Notice of Appeal is filed.   If the trial attorney is doing the appeal, your son should always be able to learn the status of the appeal from his atorney.  If your son retains a private attorney to do the appeal, that attorney should always be able to keep your son informed of the appeal status.  If your son has the Public Defender on the appeal, that attorney (or someon in the Public Defender's office) should be able to let your son know the appeal status. There are several stages to the appellate process once the Notice of Appeal has been filed.  The first one involves the preparation and filing of the "record" (which includes transcripts and other documents from the trial case).  That usually takes approximately 60 days.  After that, the process of researching and writing the appeal (referred to as a brief) begins.  That, depending on what issues seem good for an appeal (and the appellate attorney's calendar), can take anywhere from a couple weeks to two or three months.  Then the state gets one or two months to file a response.  After that, your appellate attorney may decide to file a reply brief.  If so, that could take another couple of weeks.   After the briefs are filed by both sides, the appellate court begins its process of reading the briefs, researching, analyzing, and reaching a decision (often with a written opinion).  In my experience, the court's process normally takes anywhere from six months to a year.