Craig L. Jones v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

June 02, 2016 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A16A1757. CRAIG L. JONES v. THE STATE.

In 2012, Craig L. Jones pled guilty to battery, criminal trespass and aggravated stalking.1 In February 2016, he filed a Motion to Modify a Void Sentence. The trial court denied the motion, and Jones appeals.

Jones’s motion is, in substance, an effort to set aside or vacate his convictions. But as the Supreme Court has made clear, a post-conviction motion seeking to vacate an allegedly void criminal conviction is not one of the established procedures for challenging the validity of a judgment in a criminal case, and an appeal from the trial court’s ruling on such a petition should be dismissed. See Roberts v. State, 286 Ga. 532 (690 SE2d 150) (2010). A direct appeal may lie from an order denying or dismissing a motion to correct a void sentence if the defendant raises a colorable claim that the sentence is, in fact, void or illegal. See Harper v. State, 286 Ga. 216, 217 (1), n.1 (686 SE2d 786) (2009); Burg v. State, 297 Ga. App. 118, 119 (676 SE2d 465) (2009). Jones’s motion, however, presented challenges to his convictions, not his sentence. Because Jones may not attack his convictions in this manner and because he did not assert a colorable void-sentence claim, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

06/02/2016 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.