Colquitt v. State

• Decision Date: 07 October 2019
• Docket Number: S19A1204
• Citation: 307 Ga. 43,834 S.E.2d 52
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: COLQUITT v. The STATE.

307 Ga. 43

834 S.E.2d 52

COLQUITT

v.The STATE.

S19A1204

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: October 7, 2019

Johnny A. Colquitt, pro se. Sherry Boston, District Attorney, Emily K. Richardson, Deborah D. Wellborn, Assistant District Attorneys; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Melton, Chief Justice.

On December 10, 1993, Johnny Antwone Colquitt pled guilty to malice murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping with bodily injury in connection with the shooting death of Shelton Renard Chappell. Colquitt received three life sentences, with the sentences for malice murder and kidnapping with bodily injury to run concurrently with each other, and the sentence for armed robbery to run consecutively to the other counts. Nearly 25 years later, in May 2018, Colquitt filed a "motion in equity to void plea agreement and in arrest of judgment."¹ On November 15, 2018, the trial court dismissed the motion for lack of jurisdiction.

Colquitt, acting pro se, now appeals; however, he does not address the trial court’s decision to dismiss his action. Instead, he reiterates the arguments he raised below. Those arguments can be categorized into two main types: (1) arguments that Colquitt’s convictions must be vacated and (2) arguments that Colquitt’s guilty plea was unknowing and involuntary, giving Colquitt the right to withdraw it. With regard to both types of arguments, the trial court properly dismissed Colquitt’s motion.

To the extent that Colquitt argues that his convictions must be vacated, "a petition to vacate or modify a judgment of conviction is not an appropriate remedy in a criminal case." Harper v. State , 286 Ga. 216, 218 (1), 686 S.E.2d 786 (2009).²

[A] claim that a conviction was unlawful must be asserted by a motion for new trial, direct appeal from the judgment of conviction, extraordinary motion for new trial, motion in arrest of judgment, or petition for the writ of habeas corpus.

(Citations omitted.) von Thomas v. State , 293 Ga. 569, 572 (2), 748 S.E.2d 446 (2013).³ To the extent that Colquitt’s complaint sought to withdraw his guilty plea,

[a] trial court lacks jurisdiction to permit the withdrawal of a guilty plea once the term of court has expired in which the defendant was sentenced. See Davis v. State , 274 Ga. 865, 561 S.E.2d 119 (2002). In Davis , this Court stated that the only means available to withdraw a plea in such a circumstance is through a habeas corpus proceeding. Id. See also Smith v. State , 298 Ga. 487, 488, 782 S.E.2d 17 (2016).

Adams v. State , 302 Ga. 891, 810 S.E.2d 134 (2018). Because the 1993 term of court in which Colquitt entered his plea expired decades ago, the trial court did not have jurisdiction over Colquitt’s motion at the time it was filed in 2018.

Therefore, the trial court properly dismissed Colquitt’s "motion in equity to void plea agreement and in arrest of judgment" for lack of jurisdiction.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices...