America stops appeal, with change of heart related to sentencing? (7)

I believe the answer is:

clausal

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'stops appeal with change of heart related to sentencing?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'america' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'america' could be 'usa' (United States of America) and 'usa' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for clausal that I've seen is " on part of a document?".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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