He remains uncertain of how things will turn out for him in this situation. It may mean either life or death. Paul is not referring to an imminent formal condemnation specifically, but about the threat of death in general.

This state of affairs makes more sense in relation to the period of captivity in Caesarea than to that in Rome. Paul arrived in Rome with a fully exonerating testimony from none other than Herod Agrippa II. The Jewish accusers, therefore, no longer bothered to go after him and charge him there too. In Caesarea, however, Paul’s situation was very uncertain. The Jews of Jerusalem were prepared to carry out an assassination attempt on him (Acts 23:12–14; Acts 25:3). Whether they would get an opportunity to carry this out depended on the whims of the governors! In the end Festus appeared inclined to give in to the Jews, and so Paul sees no way of escaping his would-be assassins other than through an appeal to the emperor (Acts 25:9–12).¹