Ted Andrew Jefferson v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ December 12, 2022

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A23A0405. TED ANDREW JEFFERSON v. THE STATE.

In 2014, a jury found Ted Andrew Jefferson guilty of multiple crimes. He filed a direct appeal, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and the admission of certain testimony, and contending that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. We affirmed the judgment. Case No. A20A0214 (decided Aug. 13, 2021). In April 2022, Jefferson filed a pro se motion to vacate void judgment in which he contended the arrest underlying his conviction was unlawful and that, therefore, the judgment of conviction was void. The trial court denied the motion, and Jefferson filed this direct appeal. The State has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. A motion to vacate a judgment of conviction is not an appropriate remedy in a criminal case. See Harper v. State, 286 Ga. 216, 218 (1) (686 SE2d 786) (2009). Accordingly, any appeal from an order denying such a motion must be dismissed. See id. at 218 (2); Roberts v. State, 286 Ga. 532, 532 (690 SE2d 150) (2010). Moreover, “[a] defendant is not entitled to a second direct appeal from his judgment of conviction.” Miller v. State, 264 Ga. App. 801, 803 (b) (592 SE2d 450) (2003) (punctuation omitted). Jefferson has already had a direct appeal from the judgment of conviction, which we affirmed. Thus, this appeal must be dismissed. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss is granted, and this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 12/12/2022 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.