Polanco v. State

Saul Polanco pleaded guilty in 2019 to felony murder and other charges after fatally stabbing his wife. He missed the deadline to appeal, so he later asked the trial court for permission to file an out-of-time appeal (a late appeal allowed under special circumstances). The trial court denied that request. While his case was pending, the Supreme Court of Georgia decided Cook v. State, ruling that trial courts never actually had legal authority to decide these out-of-time appeal motions in the first place. Applying that new rule here, the court vacated (undid) the trial court's order denying Polanco's motion and sent the case back so the trial court can dismiss the motion instead of ruling on its merits. In a separate concurrence, one Justice also flagged that Polanco's sentence for felony murder appears to be illegal under Georgia law.

Following Cook v. State, the court held that trial courts have no jurisdiction to decide out-of-time appeal motions on the merits, so the trial court's order denying Polanco's motion must be vacated and the case remanded for the motion to be dismissed rather than ruled on.

This case confirms that Georgia trial courts can no longer rule on out-of-time appeal motions at all, meaning defendants who missed their appeal deadline must instead pursue relief through a habeas corpus petition, changing how untimely appeals are handled statewide.

Vacated and remanded with instructions to dismiss the motion

1. The court applied its recent decision in Cook v. State, which held that Georgia trial courts have never had legal authority to rule on motions for out-of-time appeal (a late appeal allowed only in limited circumstances), because no statute or rule created that procedure.
2. Cook directed that this rule applies to all cases still on direct review or not yet final, and that pending motions for out-of-time appeal should be dismissed rather than decided, with any prior orders deciding such motions on the merits vacated.
3. Applying that rule to Polanco's case, the court vacated the trial court's order denying his motion for out-of-time appeal because the trial court lacked authority to rule on it in the first place.
4. The court remanded the case so the trial court can enter a new order simply dismissing the motion, and warned Polanco that any future appeal of his conviction or the dismissal itself will likely be considered too late.
5. The court noted that if Polanco believes he was wrongly denied his right to appeal, his remedy is to file a habeas corpus petition (a challenge to the legality of his imprisonment), subject to strict filing deadlines and limits on repeat petitions.

• out-of-time appeal
• felony murder sentence
• habeas corpus
• void sentence
• guilty plea