Maxx McQuay Pritchett v. State

Summary

The Georgia Court of Appeals grants Maxx McQuay Pritchett’s application for discretionary appeal to the extent it may challenge his guilty plea, after the trial court granted permission to file an out-of-time appeal. The court holds that the trial court lacked authority to grant an out-of-time discretionary appeal from the revocation of probation and concludes that it lacks jurisdiction over that challenge because the application was not timely filed. Pritchett is directed to file a notice of appeal within 10 days, subject to dismissal if the appeal concerns only probation revocation.

Holdings

1. An order granting an out-of-time appeal may be appealed directly, and a timely discretionary application from that order may be granted under OCGA § 5-6-35 (j).
2. A trial court has no authority to grant an out-of-time application for discretionary appeal from a probation-revocation order.
3. The Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider the propriety of the probation revocation because Pritchett did not file a discretionary application within 30 days of the revocation order.
4. The application for discretionary appeal was granted insofar as Pritchett had been granted an out-of-time appeal from his guilty plea.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an order granting permission to file an out-of-time appeal may be appealed directly.
2. Whether a trial court may grant an out-of-time application for discretionary appeal from a probation-revocation order.
3. Whether the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to consider Pritchett's challenge to the probation revocation when no discretionary application was filed within 30 days of that order.
4. Whether the application should be granted to permit an appeal from Pritchett's guilty plea.

Disposition

other