Mack v. State, 323 Ga. App. 821

Mack pled guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced January 28, 2008 to life as a recidivist under OCGA § 17-10-7(a).
Mack moved to withdraw his guilty plea; the trial court denied, and this court affirmed in an unpublished opinion (2011).
Remittitur issued June 22, 2012; Mack filed a motion to modify his sentence on November 16, 2012 alleging statutory ambiguity and lenity.
The trial court denied the modification on November 27, 2012; Mack appealed.
Statutory framework allows modification within a year post-imposition or within 120 days after remittitur, whichever is later; outside that period, modification is only for void sentences.
Mack argued an inherent ambiguity between OCGA § 17-10-7(a) and OCGA § 16-8-41(b) making the life sentence potentially improper; the court rejected this and affirmed the sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether there is ambiguity between statutes governing sentencing	Mack contends the longest punishment under the recidivist and armed robbery statutes is ambiguous.	State argues no ambiguity; longest period is life for armed robbery.	No ambiguity; life sentence valid.

Lester v. State, 309 Ga. App. 1 (2011) (longest period for armed robbery is life)
Singleton v. State, 293 Ga. App. 755 (2008) (same interpretation of longest period)
Rooney v. State, 318 Ga. App. 385 (2012) (colorable claims may permit direct review of void sentences)
Frazier v. State, 302 Ga. App. 346 (2010) (modification timing framework)
Burg v. State, 297 Ga. App. 118 (2009) (modification timing framework)