Jessie J. Askew, Jr. v. State, A21A1767

In 1998 Jessie J. Askew, Jr. was convicted (including armed robbery) and, as a recidivist, sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
On direct appeal the Court of Appeals affirmed, holding the trial court was mandated to impose life without parole under the then-applicable statutory scheme. (Askew v. State, 254 Ga. App. 137.)
In April 2021 Askew filed a "Motion for Resentencing Under Substantive Change in Law," invoking OCGA § 17-10-6.1(e) (enacted 2013) to seek a sentence below the former mandatory minimum.
The trial court denied the motion as filed outside the statutory period for sentence modification. Askew appealed the denial to the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals concluded it lacked jurisdiction because Askew’s motion was filed after the § 17-10-1(f) statutory window and he did not present a colorable claim that his sentence was void.
The court also noted that sentencing is governed by the law in effect when the offense occurred and that the earlier appellate ruling is law of the case, so the 2013 statute does not entitle Askew to relief here.

Issue	Askew's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Jurisdiction to review resentencing motion filed in 2021	§17-10-6.1(e) entitles Askew to resentencing; court should consider motion	Motion filed after §17-10-1(f) period; court lacks jurisdiction unless sentence is void	Court dismissed appeal for lack of jurisdiction; no colorable void-sentence claim
Applicability of 2013 statute and whether sentence is void	2013 enactment allowing below-mandatory sentences should apply to grant relief	Sentencing governed by law at time of offense; sentence falls within statutory range and is not void; prior appeal is law of the case	2013 statute does not retroactively create relief; sentence not void; law of the case bars relief

Askew v. State, 254 Ga. App. 137 (2002) (direct appeal affirming life-without-parole sentence as mandated under then-applicable law)
Frazier v. State, 302 Ga. App. 346 (2010) (trial court may modify a sentence only within the statutory window or if the sentence is void)
Jones v. State, 278 Ga. 669 (2004) (a sentence is void only when the law does not permit the imposed punishment)
Reed v. State, 352 Ga. App. 30 (2019) (defendant must be sentenced under the sentencing law in effect when the crime was committed)
Ross v. State, 310 Ga. App. 326 (2011) (issues resolved on earlier appeal constitute the law of the case)
Searcy v. State, 162 Ga. App. 695 (1982) (reaffirms principle that sentencing follows the law at the time of the offense)