Ringold v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseIn 2012, Richard Ringold pled guilty to four counts of murder, one count of aggravated assault, and five counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, arising out of the shooting deaths of four victims and the wounding of a fifth. Ringold was sentenced to concurrent terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for each murder and terms of years on the other convictions. Approximately one month later, he moved to withdraw his plea, and his motion was denied after a hearing. Nearly four years later, he moved to file an out-of-time appeal, which the trial court denied summarily and without holding a hearing. Proceeding pro se, he appealed that denial, asserting that both the trial court and his motion-to-withdraw counsel erred by failing to advise him of his right to appeal the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The Georgia Supreme Court vacated the trial court’s order denying Ringold’s motion for an out-of-time appeal and remand this case for the trial court to determine whether Ringold’s motion-to-withdraw counsel was ineffective in failing to file a timely notice of appeal, consistent with the test in Roe v. Flores-Ortega, 528 U. S. 470 (2000). If Ringold could show his counsel was deficient in failing to file a timely notice of appeal and that, but for counsel’s deficiency, he would have appealed, he was entitled to an out-of-time appeal.
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