Cole v. State, 310 Ga. 566

In 1990 Cole (age 16) was indicted in Catoosa County for malice murder and armed robbery; he pleaded guilty on April 1, 1991 and received concurrent life sentences.
On March 13, 2020 Cole filed a pro se motion for an out-of-time appeal, asserting that plea counsel's ineffective assistance deprived him of his right to an appeal under Collier v. State.
The trial court denied the motion on May 8, 2020 without holding an evidentiary hearing.
Cole appealed the summary denial; he also raised a separate claim that the superior court lacked jurisdiction over juveniles at the time of his plea, but the Court declined to reach that claim because no out-of-time appeal had been granted.
The State raised, on appeal, defenses of collateral estoppel based on a prior federal habeas judgment and prejudice from delay, but those defenses were not raised or ruled on below and thus were not considered by the Court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Cole was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his claim that plea counsel's ineffective assistance deprived him of the right to a timely appeal	Cole argued plea counsel's constitutional ineffectiveness caused him to forfeit his right to an appeal, entitling him to an out-of-time appeal and a hearing	State argued on appeal collateral estoppel and prejudice from delay (but did not raise these below)	Court held the trial court abused its discretion by denying the motion without a hearing and vacated and remanded for an evidentiary hearing
Whether appellate court could consider Cole's juvenile-jurisdiction claim now	Cole urged that superior court lacked jurisdiction over juveniles when he pleaded guilty	State opposed (substantive defense not reached)	Court declined to review that claim now because no out-of-time appeal has yet been granted
Whether the State's collateral estoppel and prejudicial-delay defenses bar relief	N/A (Cole did not concede these defenses)	State argued collateral estoppel based on prior federal habeas judgment and prejudice from delay	Court did not consider these defenses on appeal because they were not raised and ruled on in the trial court

Collier v. State, 307 Ga. 363 (2019) (recognizes entitlement to out-of-time appeal when plea counsel's ineffective assistance deprived defendant of an appeal)
Clark v. State, 310 Ga. 489 (2020) (trial court must hold evidentiary hearing when defendant alleges counsel's ineffectiveness deprived him of an appeal)
Rutledge v. State, 309 Ga. 508 (2020) (same; clarifies factual inquiry requirement)
Burley v. State, 308 Ga. 650 (2020) (same principle requiring factual inquiry/hearing)
Kennebrew v. State, 304 Ga. 406 (2018) (issues must be raised and ruled on below to be considered on appeal)