Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,__________________ April 30, 2014 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A14A1312. JAMES WRIGHT v. THE STATE.

After pleading guilty to three counts of child molestation, James Wright was sentenced to twenty years, 15 years in prison and five years on probation. Five years later he filed a motion to vacate his sentence, arguing that the trial court erroneously failed to consider whether he was competent to enter a guilty plea. The trial court denied the motion, and Wright now appeals.1 We, however, lack jurisdiction.

A direct appeal lies from the denial of a motion to correct a void sentence when the defendant raises a colorable claim that the sentence is, in fact, void or illegal. See Burg v. State, 297 Ga. App. 118, 119 (676 SE2d 465) (2009). However, [a] sentence is only void when the trial court imposes a punishment that the law does not allow. When the sentence imposed falls within the statutory range of punishment, the sentence is not void and is not subject to post-appeal modification beyond that provided in OCGA § 17-10-1 (f). Assertions taking issue with the procedure employed in imposing a valid sentence or questioning the fairness of an imposed sentence do not allege a sentence is void and therefore are not a means for post-appeal, post-OCGA § 17-10-1 (f) sentence modification. Rather, a petition for writ of habeas corpus is the means for seeking sentence review for such allegations.

Wright also filed an application for discretionary appeal from the trial court’s order. We dismissed that application as untimely. See Wright v. State, Application Number A14D0267 (dismissed March 31, 2014). (Punctuation omitted.) Coleman v. State, 305 Ga. App. 680, 680-681 (700 SE2d 668) (2010). Because Wright does not argue that his sentence exceeded legal limits, he does not state a valid “void sentence” claim. We therefore DISMISS his direct appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 04/30/2014 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,__________________ I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.