Clark v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseEddie Clark pleaded guilty to felony murder and other crimes in connection with the stabbing death of Elizabeth Hutcheson. Years later, he filed a motion for out-of-time appeal, which the trial court summarily denied without a hearing. Clark alleged in his motion for out-of-time appeal that his failure to file a timely appeal resulted from his plea counsel’s constitutionally ineffective assistance. If Clark could prove this allegation, he would be entitled to an out-of-time appeal. However, the trial court denied Clark’s motion without conducting a factual inquiry into his claim of ineffective assistance. Accordingly, as the State conceded, under the circumstances presented in this case, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the trial court’s judgment and remanded “for the court to conduct an evidentiary hearing and determine whether plea counsel’s ineffective assistance was responsible for [Clark’s] failure to pursue a timely appeal.”
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