Terry-Hall v. State

Brandon Terry-Hall pleaded guilty in Henry County to felony murder and other charges tied to a 2012 home burglary and shooting that killed Ronnie Cantrell, Sr. and wounded his son. Years later, acting without a lawyer, Terry-Hall asked the trial court for an out-of-time appeal, arguing the State never laid out a proper factual basis for his plea and that his plea was not truly voluntary. He did not claim his attorney had failed him by missing a deadline to appeal or to withdraw the plea; in fact he specifically told the trial court he was not raising an ineffective assistance claim. On appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia, Terry-Hall argued his lawyer's ineffectiveness entitled him to a hearing and an out-of-time appeal, and separately attacked the factual basis for his plea. The court held that because he never raised the ineffective-assistance argument below, it was waived, and because he was never granted an out-of-time appeal, the court had no power to review challenges to the underlying conviction itself.

A defendant who did not argue in his motion for an out-of-time appeal that his lawyer's deficient performance cost him a timely appeal cannot raise that ineffective-assistance argument for the first time on appeal, and without a granted out-of-time appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia has no jurisdiction to review challenges to the underlying guilty plea.

The decision reinforces that Georgia defendants seeking an out-of-time appeal must clearly tell the trial court, in their motion, exactly how their lawyer failed them; otherwise appellate courts will treat the argument as waived and cannot reach the underlying conviction at all.

Affirmed

1. The court explained that a defendant is entitled to an out-of-time appeal only if his lawyer's constitutionally deficient performance deprived him of an appeal he otherwise would have pursued, and that a trial court must hold a hearing when a motion actually alleges that kind of ineffective assistance.
2. Reviewing the record, the court found that Terry-Hall's original motion never claimed his lawyer's failures cost him a timely appeal or a timely motion to withdraw his plea; instead he argued only that the plea itself was invalid, and he expressly denied raising any ineffective-assistance claim when the State suggested otherwise.
3. Applying the well-settled rule that arguments not raised in the trial court cannot be raised for the first time on appeal, the court held that Terry-Hall's ineffective-assistance theory was waived, so the trial court did not abuse its discretion by ruling without an evidentiary hearing.
4. The court also rejected the idea that simply filing a motion for an out-of-time appeal automatically forces a hearing regardless of what the motion actually alleges, finding no legal support for that broader rule.
5. Because Terry-Hall was never granted an out-of-time appeal, the court concluded it lacked jurisdiction to consider his separate arguments attacking the factual basis for his guilty plea or his plea counsel's handling of that issue.

• out-of-time appeal
• guilty plea
• ineffective assistance of counsel
• felony murder
• waiver