Under what circumstance can a defendant who has paid a judgment still appeal?

• A. If the defendant later changes the plea
• B. If the appellate court grants permission
• C. If the defendant was under duress to plead guilty or to pay the fine
• D. If the defendant files an amended judgment

Answer: (C)

The situation tests what happens to appeal rights when a judgment has been paid but the defendant’s consent was not voluntary. Normally, once a judgment is paid, the dispute is considered resolved, and an appeal is moot. But there’s an important exception: if the defendant was under duress to plead guilty or to pay the fine, the action wasn’t voluntary. Duress undermines the defendant’s ability to consent, so the appellate process remains available to challenge the validity of the plea, the conviction, or the sentence. The other scenarios don’t provide a valid route to appeal after payment: changing the plea after judgment isn’t a standard way to reopen an appeal, appellate permission is not typically required to appeal in this context, and amending the judgment doesn’t revive an appeal once the judgment has been satisfied.