Terry v. State, 301 Ga. 776

Michael Terry pled guilty in October 2013 to multiple charges arising from the murder of his wife and was sentenced to life plus 20 years concurrent. The plea was entered during the September 2013 term of the Floyd County Superior Court.
Terry asserts he asked his plea counsel to file a motion to withdraw the plea the same day but the motion was filed seven days late (November 11, 2013), after the November 4, 2013 term began.
New counsel (John Howe) appeared January 9, 2014 and filed an amended motion to withdraw the plea on June 17, 2014, but orally withdrew the motion at the hearing, acknowledging the court lacked jurisdiction because the motion was untimely.
The trial court denied Terry’s motion to withdraw the plea as untimely and therefore beyond the court’s jurisdiction; subsequent pro se filings seeking an out‑of‑time appeal were denied, but the court later granted an out‑of‑time appeal from the denial and permitted Terry to represent himself on that appeal.
Terry’s appellate contentions: (1) he was denied a right to appointed counsel on a direct appeal; (2) appellate counsel was ineffective for withdrawing the motion to withdraw the plea; and (3) the motion to withdraw was in fact timely (he references a 28‑day "statutory range").

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Right to appointed counsel for a direct appeal	Terry: He was denied appointed counsel for his "first appeal" and did not waive it	State: No timely direct appeal was filed; right to counsel attaches only to trial and timely direct appeal	Court: No merit — record shows no timely direct appeal triggering appointed counsel (cites Pierce)
Ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for withdrawing motion to withdraw plea	Terry: Howe was ineffective for conceding lack of jurisdiction and withdrawing the motion; the motion was timely within a "statutory range"	State: Even if counsel erred, Terry was not entitled to appointed counsel for an untimely motion; remedy is habeas	Court: Claims fail — motion was untimely and counsel’s withdrawal acknowledged lack of jurisdiction; habeas is the available route
Jurisdiction/timeliness to withdraw guilty plea	Terry: Motion was timely (argues 28 days/statutory range)	State: Motion filed outside the term in which plea was entered (filed after new term began), so court lacked jurisdiction	Court: Motion untimely — filed after the term ended; trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider it

Pierce v. State, 289 Ga. 893 (clarifies indigent right to counsel extends to trial and timely first appeal)
Brooks v. State, 301 Ga. 748 (discusses entitlement to counsel linked to timely motion to withdraw plea)
Henry v. State, 269 Ga. 851 (motion to withdraw plea must be filed within same term to be timely)
Gibson v. Turpin, 270 Ga. 855 (state required to provide counsel for trial and first appeal only)
Tolbert v. Toole, 296 Ga. 357 (pro se filings have no effect when defendant is represented by counsel)
Tyner v. State, 289 Ga. 592 (procedural limits on appellate review of trial court’s out-of-time appeal orders)