Emeka Abanifi v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ April 04, 2013

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A13A1207. ABANIFI v. THE STATE.

Appellant in the above-referenced case was convicted following a jury trial on September 29, 2010, and his trial counsel timely filed a notice of appeal on October 19, 2010. After the notice of appeal was filed, appellant obtained new counsel so that he could raise a claim of ineffective assistance against his trial counsel. Consequently, appellant has now filed a motion with this Court, seeking a remand of this case to the trial court so that the trial court can conduct an evidentiary hearing on his ineffective assistance claim. Given the fact that “this appeal was Appellant’s first opportunity to raise the issue of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, we will remand the case for an evidentiary hearing on that claim.” Hung v. State, 282 Ga. 684, 685 (2) (653 SE2d 48) (2007) (punctuation omitted). Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that this case be remanded to the trial court so that the court can conduct an evidentiary hearing on appellant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim. It is further ordered that if the trial court finds that appellant was denied effective assistance of trial counsel, appellant shall be entitled to a new trial; however, if the trial court finds that appellant was not denied effective assistance of trial counsel, then appellant will be entitled to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the entry of any such adverse order.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 04/04/2013 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.