McCARTHY v. State, 301 Ga. 803

McCarthy was convicted in 1999 in Quitman County of malice murder, possession of a firearm during a crime, concealing the death of another, and tampering with evidence.
He did not file a motion for new trial or a notice of appeal after sentencing.
In 2004 he sought trial transcripts and filed a habeas petition asserting ineffective assistance of counsel and related trial errors.
The clerk later provided portions of the transcript from a new court reporter; the habeas court heard trial-counsel testimony focused on right to appeal.
The habeas court denied relief in 2005, holding McCarthy’s failure to pursue a direct appeal was inaction by McCarthy, and denied a certificate of probable cause in 2006.
McCarthy later filed extraordinary motions for a new trial and an out-of-time appeal in 2006–2007, which the trial court denied in 2007; his direct appeal was dismissed by this Court in 2008 for failure to file a discretionary appeal.
Over 2011–2015, McCarthy filed further out-of-time appeal motions and extraordinary motions, which the trial court again denied; this appeal follows.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether McCarthy’s latest out-of-time appeal is barred by collateral estoppel	McCarthy	State	Barred; collateral estoppel applies and denial affirmed.
Whether loss of some trial transcripts invalidates the right to appeal	McCarthy	State	Not preserved; even if preserved, no harm shown; denial affirmed.

Sessions v. State, 293 Ga. 33 (Ga. 2013) (similar facts; collateral estoppel precludes relitigation of ineffective-assistance issue)
Waller v. State, 299 Ga. 619 (Ga. 2016) (out-of-time appeal reviewed for abuse of discretion; right to appeal forfeited by inaction)
Nally v. Bartow County Grand Jurors, 280 Ga. 790 (Ga. 2006) (collateral estoppel principle; same issue cannot be relitigated)
Sheard v. State, 300 Ga. 117 (Ga. 2016) (missing transcript; harm must be shown; fact pattern distinguished)