Karl Haas v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 17, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A15A2176. HAAS v. THE STATE.

Appellant Karl Haas has filed a motion to remand the above-referenced case to Johnson County Superior Court to allow his appellate counsel to investigate and to present ineffective assistance of counsel claims. In support thereof, Haas asserts that he was convicted following a jury trial on May 13 and 14, 2009; that for purposes of appeal, he was assigned new counsel who represented him at his motion for new trial hearing; that “[f]or a variety of reasons, the case was reassigned” to Haas’s current, appellate counsel who was appointed after the notice of appeal had been filed; and that “this is [Haas’s] first opportunity to raise a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.”

“Because 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.”1 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(s). It is further ordered that if the trial court finds that Appellant was denied effective assistance of counsel, Appellant shall be entitled to a new trial; however, if the trial court finds that Appellant was not denied

1 Hung v. State, 282 Ga. 685 (2) (653 SE2d 48) (2007) (citation and punctuation omitted).

effective assistance of counsel, then Appellant will be entitled to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the entry of any such adverse order.

For the above reasons, Appellant’s motion to remand is granted.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 08/17/2015 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.