Balkcom v. State

489 S.E.2d 129, 227 Ga. App. 327, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 2785, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 923
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 15, 1997
DocketA97A0360
StatusPublished
Cited by155 cases

This text of 489 S.E.2d 129 (Balkcom v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Balkcom v. State, 489 S.E.2d 129, 227 Ga. App. 327, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 2785, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 923 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

Birdsong, Presiding Judge.

Arthur Lee Balkcom appeals his conviction of felony involuntary manslaughter and the denial of his motion for new trial. Held:

The State has moved to dismiss this appeal because as a direct appeal, it is untimely, and as an appeal from an extraordinary motion for new trial, it has not been brought by the required discre[328]*328tionary appeals procedure. For the following reasons the State’s motion is granted.

Appellant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on September 16, 1994, and no notice of appeal or motion for new trial was filed within 30 days as statutorily required to perfect a direct appeal. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). On January 23, 1995, however, appellant filed a pro se motion for out-of-time appeal, but this motion was never ruled on by the trial court. Later, on March 23, 1995, appellant filed a pro se extraordinary motion for new trial, and on June 8, 1995, he filed a pro se notice of appeal of the trial court’s failure to rule upon his extraordinary motion for new trial. After appellant filed a motion for appointment of counsel in September 1995, the trial court apparently granted this motion as counsel entered an appearance on behalf of appellant on February 23, 1996. On August 1,1996, appellant’s counsel filed an amended motion for new trial which referred to appellant’s pro se extraordinary motion for new trial. After the trial court denied the extraordinary motion on September 13, 1996, on September 23, 1996, appellant’s attorney filed a notice of appeal purporting to appeal from the 1994 judgment of conviction and the denial of the extraordinary motion for new trial. The appeal was docketed with this Court on October 3, 1996.

Contrary to the dissent’s contention, the trial court did not merely unartfully refer to the motion as an extraordinary motion for new trial. After appointed appellate counsel entered the case, counsel filed a motion, captioned an amended motion for new trial, that amended “the motion for new trial previously filed by [Balkcom] pro se as an extraordinary motion for new trial.” Therefore it is apparent that Balkcom, the State, and the trial court all considered this motion for what it was — an extraordinary motion for new trial. Even on appeal Balkcom does not contend that this motion was anything other than an extraordinary motion for new trial. Although the dissent relies upon OCGA § 5-5-41, this section, which regulates extraordinary motions for new trial, adds nothing to the dissent’s argument.

Moreover, this appeal does not concern a ruling on a motion for out-of-time appeal or a motion for out-of-time motion for new trial. Even though Balkcom filed a pro se motion for an out-of-time appeal, the trial court did not rule on that motion before appellate counsel was appointed, and Balkcom’s appointed appellate counsel apparently abandoned the pro se motion for out-of-tiime appeal by not seeking a ruling on it. Additionally, this record does not support, nor does Balkcom contend, the trial court granted authority for Balkcom to file an out-of-time motion for new trial. Therefore, this was an extraordinary motion for new trial.

Disposition of this motion raises questions concerning the proper [329]*329procedure for appealing the denial of an extraordinary motion for new trial. Under OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (7), the discretionary appeals procedures are required for “[ajppeals, when separate from an original appeal, from the denial of an extraordinary motion for new trial.” It appears that the legislature, being well aware of the appellate practice in this state, contemplated that most extraordinary motions for new trial would be filed subsequent to and separate from an original appeal, and, thus, would be subject to the discretionary appeals procedure.

Nevertheless, when presented with the question of what appellate procedure is required when no timely notice of appeal was filed and only an extraordinary motion for new trial is filed, a panel of this Court held that the denial of an extraordinary motion for new trial was directly appealable, as it was not separate .from the original appeal in the case. Walls v. State, 204 Ga. App. 348 (419 SE2d 344). Further reflection reveals, however, that this case is an anomaly because its effect is to allow a party to avoid the consequences of failing to file a timely direct appeal simply by filing an extraordinary motion for new trial. As this practice would be contrary to that contemplated by our legislature in normal appellate circumstances, to the extent Walls can be read to authorize such a procedure, it must be overruled. To do otherwise would thwart the legislative intent expressed in OCGA § 5-6-38 (a) by allowing direct appeals of judgments entered more than 30 days before the notice of appeal was filed.

The fact that the notice of appeal filed on September 23, 1996, in this case designates both the judgment of conviction and the denial of the extraordinary motion for new trial as the subject of the appeal does not render this case subject to a direct appeal. Regardless of that designation, because no viable direct appeal was filed in this case, the appeal of the denial of appellant’s extraordinary motion for new trial is, perforce, separate from the original appeal. Consequently, this is an appeal of the denial of the extraordinary motion for new trial which was filed “separate” from an “original appeal,” within the meaning of OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (7). A direct appeal does not lie.

In addition, the position taken in Walls v. State, supra, was rejected by the majority of this Court in the whole court case of Bohannon v. State, 203 Ga. App. 783 (417 SE2d 679) (Bohannon I). Although Bohannon I was reversed by .our Supreme Court (see Bohannon v. State, 262 Ga. 697 (425 SE2d 653),(Bohannon II)), the reversal was based on the conclusion that the appeal arose from the trial court’s grant of an out-of-time motion for new trial, and not from disagreement with the rationale espoused in Bohannon I. The Supreme Court held that “[t]he judgment of the Court of Appeals is [330]*330reversed because the record shows that the trial court granted an out-of-time appeal and, consequently, this case is not subject to the rules governing extraordinary motions for new trial; that is, no application for appeal was required. We disagree with the Court of Appeals that by seeking (and obtaining) permission to file an out-of-time motion for new trial rather than an out-of-time appeal, Bohannon was necessarily pursuing an extraordinary motion for new trial.” (Emphasis in original.) Id.

Under these circumstances the majority’s rejection of the dissent’s position in Bohannon I is still valid: “If the dissent’s analysis were correct, neither a civil nor a criminal appellant would ever have to comply with the jurisdictional 30-day limitation established by OCGA § 5-6-38 (a).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
489 S.E.2d 129, 227 Ga. App. 327, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 2785, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/balkcom-v-state-gactapp-1997.