Opinion
S17A0820.
08-28-2017
KERCH v. The STATE.
Phillip N. Kerch, GDC# 1017964, DOOLEY STATE PRISON, P.O. Box 750, Unadilla, Georgia 31091, for Appellant. Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, DEPARTMENT OF LAW, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, George Elemuel Barnhill, District Attorney, Michelle Chapman McIntire, A.D.A., WAYCROSS JUDICIAL CIRCUIT DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, 306 Albany Avenue, Waycross, Georgia 31501, for Appellee.
Phillip N. Kerch, GDC# 1017964, DOOLEY STATE PRISON, P.O. Box 750, Unadilla, Georgia 31091, for Appellant.
Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, DEPARTMENT OF LAW, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, George Elemuel Barnhill, District Attorney, Michelle Chapman McIntire, A.D.A., WAYCROSS JUDICIAL CIRCUIT DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, 306 Albany Avenue, Waycross, Georgia 31501, for Appellee.
GRANT, Justice.
In June 1999, Appellant Phillip Nathan Kerch pled guilty in Pierce County Superior Court to the malice murder, burglary, and armed robbery of his grandfather. He was sentenced to life in prison for the malice murder, and concurrent ten-year terms for each of the burglary and armed robbery counts. In April 2016, Kerch filed a pro se motion to withdraw his guilty plea, contending that his plea counsel had rendered ineffective assistance in various respects. The trial court dismissed the motion on the ground that the motion was untimely and thus the court lacked jurisdiction to consider it. We affirm.
" ‘It is well settled that when the term of court has expired in which a defendant was sentenced pursuant to a guilty plea, the trial court lacks jurisdiction to allow the withdrawal of the plea.’ " Rubiani v. State , 279 Ga. 299, 299, 612 S.E.2d 798 (2005) ; accord Hagan v. State , 290 Ga. 353, 353, 720 S.E.2d 645 (2012). Kerch's motion to withdraw was filed nearly 17 years after the entry of his guilty plea, well after the expiration of the term of court in which his plea was entered. See OCGA § 15–6–3 (41) (E) (establishing two terms of court each year for Pierce County). Accordingly, the trial court properly dismissed Kerch's motion to withdraw. See Dupree v. State , 279 Ga. 613, 614, 619 S.E.2d 608 (2005) ; Rubiani , 279 Ga. at 299, 612 S.E.2d 798.
Judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur.