After the direct appeal ends, most people believe the case is over. It usually is, but not always, and this article explains what actually remains. It sets out the difference between direct appeal and collateral attack, why the record is the single biggest constraint, and which claims can only be raised after the appeal. Extended treatment is given to the three theories that carry nearly every successful petition: ineffective assistance of counsel, suppressed favorable evidence, and newly discovered evidence including DNA. It then explains the procedural obstacles that defeat far more petitions than the merits ever do — the one-year clock, exhaustion, procedural default, deference to state court decisions, the record limitation on federal review, and the bar on successive petitions. Practical sections cover what a petition should contain, how evidentiary hearings are earned, what a certificate of appealability requires, and the non-habeas routes that are sometimes faster: sentence reduction, compassionate release, clemency, and vacatur for immigration consequences. Every authority is linked to its text.