Boone v. State

Odeirrick Boone pleaded guilty in 2012 to malice murder and other crimes for robbing a convenience store and stabbing the store's owner to death. Years later, in 2020, Boone asked the trial court for permission to file a late appeal, saying his trial lawyer never told him he had the right to appeal his convictions. The trial court denied his request without holding a hearing. The Supreme Court of Georgia found that the trial court could not properly decide whether Boone's lawyer had failed him without first holding a hearing to look at the facts. The court vacated (undid) the trial court's order and sent the case back so the trial court can hold a hearing and determine whether Boone's lawyer's failure to advise him about his appeal rights entitles him to file that appeal now, even though it is late.

A defendant seeking an out-of-time appeal based on ineffective assistance must be given an evidentiary hearing to determine whether counsel's performance was deficient and whether there is a reasonable probability the defendant would have timely appealed but for that deficiency; denying the motion without a hearing was improper.

The ruling reinforces that Georgia trial courts cannot reject requests for late appeals based on ineffective counsel without holding a hearing to examine the facts. This protects defendants' appeal rights and gives Boone another chance to pursue review of his guilty plea and sentence.

Judgment vacated and case remanded with direction

1. The court applied the two-part Strickland test (from Strickland v. Washington), which asks whether a lawyer's performance fell below a reasonable standard and whether that failure harmed the defendant, to claims that plea counsel failed to advise about appeal rights.
2. Because the trial court denied Boone's motion without holding an evidentiary hearing, there was no factual record to determine whether his lawyer actually failed to inform him of his right to appeal, which is required before deciding the deficient-performance question.
3. The court also noted that to show harm from the lawyer's failure, Boone does not need to prove he would have won an appeal, only that there is a reasonable probability he would have filed a timely appeal if properly advised.
4. Because both parts of the test require factual findings that only a hearing can produce, and the State agreed a hearing was needed, the court concluded the trial court's order had to be vacated and the case sent back for that hearing.

• out-of-time appeal
• guilty plea
• ineffective assistance of counsel
• murder conviction
• evidentiary hearing