Supreme Court of Georgia · criminal appeal

Jones v. State

Filed October 8, 2025 · Docket S26A0151

The Supreme Court of Georgia sent Robin Jones's decades-old guilty plea case back to a Cochran County-area superior court, ruling the lower court wrongly relied on old case law instead of a new state statute governing out-of-time appeals.

In plain language

Robin Jones pleaded guilty in 1986 and years later tried to get an out-of-time appeal, meaning permission to appeal even though the normal deadline had long passed. A superior court dismissed his motion under a 2022 Supreme Court of Georgia case called Cook v. State, and this court initially dismissed his appeal of that ruling because it did not present a valid basis for appeal. After that, the Georgia General Assembly passed a new law, OCGA § 5-6-39.1(b), giving people whose motions were dismissed under Cook a fresh right to seek an out-of-time appeal until June 30, 2026. Jones filed a new motion citing this law, but the superior court again dismissed it by relying on Cook instead of analyzing it under the new statute. The State agreed the case should go back, and the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed, vacating the dismissal and sending the case back for proper review under the new law.

What the court decided

The superior court erred by dismissing Jones's motion under the old Cook framework instead of analyzing it under the newly enacted OCGA § 5-6-39.1(b), which gives defendants whose Cook-based motions were dismissed a right to seek an out-of-time appeal until June 30, 2026.

Why it matters

This ruling clears the way for Jones, and signals to Georgia trial courts generally, that motions covered by the new statute must be evaluated under its specific framework rather than dismissed automatically under the older Cook precedent, affecting others with similar old convictions.

Outcome

Judgment vacated and case remanded

How the court got there

The court noted that after Jones's earlier appeal was dismissed, the General Assembly passed OCGA § 5-6-39.1(b), a new law giving people whose motions were dismissed under Cook v. State a right to seek an out-of-time appeal (permission to appeal despite missing the normal deadline) until June 30, 2026.
When Jones filed a new motion invoking this law, the superior court again dismissed it by citing Cook rather than applying the specific framework the new statute requires.
Because the State agreed a remand was appropriate and the superior court had not performed the analysis the new statute demands, the Supreme Court of Georgia vacated the dismissal and sent the case back for reconsideration under OCGA § 5-6-39.1(b).

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