Opinion
A23A0437
10-25-2022
PINKSTON v. THE STATE.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
In 2011, Shun Pierre Pinkston was tried by a jury and found guilty of rape, child molestation, and pimping. On July 6, 2020, the trial court denied Pinkston's amended motion for new trial. No timely notice of appeal was filed, but on January 26, 2022, the trial court signed a consent order granting Pinkston's motion for out-oftime appeal. In its order, the trial court noted that the failure to file a timely notice of appeal was attributable to counsel. Pinkston then filed a notice of appeal on February 17, 2022.
In Cook v. State, 313 Ga. 471 (870 S.E.2d 758) (2022), however, the Supreme Court of Georgia eliminated the judicially created out-of-time appeal procedure in trial courts and held that a trial court is "without jurisdiction to decide [a] motion for out-of-time appeal" on the merits because there is "no legal authority for motions for out-of-time appeal in trial courts." Id. at 506 (5). Cook also concluded that this holding is to be applied to "all cases that are currently on direct review or otherwise not yet final[,]" id., and directed that "pending and future motions for out-of-time appeals in trial courts should be dismissed, and trial court orders that have decided such motions on the merits . . . should be vacated if direct review of the case remains pending or if the case is otherwise not final." Id. at 505 (4).
Accordingly, the trial court's order granting Pinkston's motion for out-of-time appeal is vacated, and this case is remanded for the entry of an order dismissing Pinkston's motion. In addition, because Pinkston's motion for out-of-time appeal was granted in this case, the trial court is directed to vacate any subsequent rulings on filings the trial court lacked jurisdiction to decide without the granted out-of-time appeal.