Opinion
S02A0540, S02A0600.
DECIDED: MARCH 11, 2002
Murder. Crisp Superior Court. Before Judge Hughes, pro hac vice.
Lorenzo C. Felder, pro se.
Denise D. Fachini, District Attorney, Cheri L. Nichols, Assistant District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, for appellee.
Murder. Butts Superior Court. Before Judge Smith.
John C. Ward, pro se.
Richard G. Milam, District Attorney, for appellee.
Lorenzo Felder was convicted in Crisp County in March 1998 of felony murder based upon the underlying felony of armed robbery. We affirmed his conviction in Felder v. State, 270 Ga. 641 ( 514 S.E.2d 416) (1999). John Coy Ward was convicted in Butts County in September 1998 of felony murder based upon the underlying felony of aggravated assault. We affirmed his conviction in Ward v. State, 271 Ga. 648 ( 520 S.E.2d 205) (1999). In November 2001, while both men were incarcerated in Ware County, they each filed motions to "Hold Void Judgments Mere Nullity and to Expunge Such Void and Null Judgments" in the counties where they had been convicted. Looking at the substance of the motions rather than their nomenclature, the motions did not seek to vacate a void sentence, see OCGA § 17-9-4, but rather constituted improper attempts by Felder and Ward to obtain a second appeal from their convictions. Since the challenged judgments were not, in fact, void, we accordingly find no error in the trial courts' denial of the motions.
Judgments affirmed. All the Justices concur.
DECIDED MARCH 11, 2002.