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In Ex Parte City Bank of New Orleans, 44 U.S. at 317, Justice Story declares "there can be no doubt that th[e] denial of appellate jurisdiction" from federal trial courts to the U.S. Supreme Court in criminal cases, including capital cases, is "a wise protective public policy."
Story extolled the virtues of not having any appeals at all in federal criminal cases. For defendants convicted in federal circuit court (then largely a trial court), there was no intermediate appellate court & Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to hear appeal or grant certiorari
To be clear, that's cray-cray.
Civil case worth a few thousand dollars? Let's see what John Marshall and his pals think! Criminal case where somebody's getting the death penalty? Nah, that's okay, I'm sure the trial judge got it right.
