WISEMAN v. STATE (2023)

On August 3, 2022, the Murray County Superior Court entered a judgment of conviction and sentence on Brandon Wiseman's guilty pleas to voluntary manslaughter and two firearms offenses. On February 13, 2023, Wiseman filed an extraordinary motion to withdraw his pleas. The trial court dismissed the motion for lack of jurisdiction, and Wiseman filed this pro se appeal.

“A motion to withdraw a guilty plea must be filed within the same term of court as the sentence entered on the guilty plea. A trial court lacks jurisdiction to allow the withdrawal of the plea if such a motion is untimely.” Brooks v. State, 301 Ga. 748, 751 (2), 804 S.E.2d 1 (2017) (citations and punctuation omitted). “[I]f a defendant seeks to withdraw a guilty plea after expiration of the term of court in which the sentence was imposed, the defendant must pursue such relief through habeas corpus proceedings.” Harvey v. State, 315 Ga. 395, 398 (2), 882 S.E.2d 238 (2022) (citation and punctuation omitted).

Wiseman's motion was untimely. See OCGA § 15-6-3 (12) (A) (terms of court for Murray County commence on the second Monday in February and August). We take judicial notice that the second Monday in August, 2022 fell on the 8th. So the deadline for Wiseman's motion was August 7, 2022. Consequently, the trial court lacked jursidcition to decide the motion and properly dismissed it.

Judgment affirmed

McFadden, Presiding Judge.

Brown and Markle, JJ., concur.