Lonny M. Ireland v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA, August 21, 2015 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A15D0527. LONNY M. IRELAND v. THE STATE.

In 2004, Lonny Ireland pled guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy, and possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of a felony. He later filed a pro se motion for out-of-time appeal, which the trial court denied. Ireland then applied for discretionary review in the Supreme Court, which transferred the case here. A defendant who pled guilty may be entitled to an out-of-time appeal if a direct appeal was not taken due to ineffective assistance of counsel and the issue on appeal can be resolved by reference to facts on the record. Hicks v. State, 281 Ga. 846, 836- 837 (642 SE2d 31) (2007). “The denial of a motion for out-of-time appeal is directly appealable when the criminal conviction at issue has not been the subject of direct appeal.” Grace v. State, 295 Ga. 657, 658 (763 SE2d 461) (2014). Thus, Ireland had a right of direct appeal here. We will grant a timely discretionary application if the lower court’s order is subject to direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED, and Ireland shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If he has already filed a notice of appeal in the trial court, he need not file a second notice. The clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta, 08/21/2015 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.