Bonner v. State

Ronnie Bonner pleaded guilty to malice murder and other charges in a 2012 home invasion and was sentenced to life plus 20 years by the Superior Court of Richmond County. Almost a year later, he asked the trial court to let him withdraw his guilty plea, arguing it was not voluntary and that his lawyer had failed him. The trial court held a hearing and denied his motion on the merits. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia did not reach Bonner's arguments about his plea. Instead it noticed that Bonner filed his withdrawal motion long after the court term in which he was sentenced had ended. Under Georgia law, once that term of court expires, a trial court no longer has the power to rule on a motion to withdraw a guilty plea. Because the trial court ruled on the merits anyway, the Supreme Court of Georgia wiped out that ruling and sent the case back with instructions to dismiss the motion instead of deciding it.

Because a Georgia trial court loses jurisdiction to decide a motion to withdraw a guilty plea once the court term in which the defendant was sentenced has expired, the trial court here had no authority to rule on Bonner's untimely motion; it should have dismissed the motion rather than deciding it on the merits.

The ruling reminds Georgia trial courts and defendants that a guilty plea can only be withdrawn within the same court term unless a habeas corpus petition is filed later, which affects how quickly people convicted after guilty pleas must act to challenge them.

Vacated and remanded with direction to dismiss the motion

1. Georgia superior courts operate in fixed terms, and once the term in which a defendant was sentenced on a guilty plea has ended, the trial court loses jurisdiction, meaning its legal power, to rule on a motion to withdraw that plea.
2. Bonner was sentenced during a term that began in July 2013 and ended when a new term started in September 2013, but he did not file his motion to withdraw his guilty plea until July 2014, long after that term had closed.
3. Because the motion was filed after the court's authority to consider it had expired, the trial court should have dismissed the motion as procedurally barred rather than reaching its merits.
4. Normally, when a court simply 'denies' a time-barred motion without explanation, the Supreme Court of Georgia assumes the court did not actually rule on the merits, so no correction is needed; that assumption did not apply here because the trial court's order included detailed findings of fact and legal conclusions on Bonner's claims.
5. Because the trial court's order was an unauthorized ruling on the merits despite lacking jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of Georgia vacated it and sent the case back with instructions to dismiss the motion instead.
6. The court noted that Bonner's only remaining path to challenge his plea is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a separate legal proceeding that can address the legality of his imprisonment.

• guilty plea withdrawal
• court jurisdiction
• malice murder conviction
• habeas corpus
• Richmond County