Kenneth Wayne Mikell, Sr. v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ December 17, 2015 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A16A0574. KENNETH WAYNE MIKELL, SR. v. THE STATE. Kenneth Wayne Mikell, Sr. was convicted of one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes and three counts of child molestation, and he was sentenced as a recidivist to life in prison. This Court affirmed his conviction on appeal. See Mikell v. State, 281 Ga. App. 739 ( 637 SE2d 142 ) (2006). Mikell subsequently filed a motion alleging his life sentence was void because he was ineligible for recidivist punishment. The trial court denied the motion, and we affirmed the ruling on appeal. See Mikell v. State, 309 Ga. App. 608 ( 710 SE2d 824 ) (2011). Mikell has now filed another motion challenging his life sentence. In this motion, he argues that the trial court erred in concluding that a life sentence was mandatory under OCGA § 17-10-7, the Georgia Recidivist Statute. The trial court denied the motion, and Mikell filed this direct appeal. Mikell has already had one appeal in this Court in which he challenged the legality of his sentence. He is not entitled to another. “It is axiomatic that the same issue cannot be relitigated ad infinitum. The same is true of appeals of the same issue on the same grounds.” Echols v. State, 243 Ga. App. 775, 776 ( 534 SE2d 464 ) (2000); see also Jordan v. State, 253 Ga. App. 510, 511 (2) ( 559 SE2d 528 ) (2002). Our ruling in the prior appeal is res judicata. See Hook v. Bergen, 286 Ga. App. 258, 261 (1) ( 649 SE2d 313 ) (2007). Thus, Mikell is estopped from seeking further judicial review on this issue. See id.; see also Ross v. State, 310 Ga. App. 326, 328 ( 713 SE2d 438 ) (2011) (law of the case rule bars successive void sentence appeals). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 12/17/2015 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.