Damarius Reynolds v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: July 13, 2022
• Docket: A22A0916
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ July 13, 2022

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A22A0916. REYNOLDS v. THE STATE.

In 2013, Damarius Reynolds was tried by a jury and convicted of two counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and possession of a handgun by a minor. On May 13, 2020, the trial court denied Reynolds’s amended motion for new trial. No timely notice of appeal was filed. In its December 14, 2021 order granting Reynolds’s motion for out-of-time appeal, the trial court relied on the fact that counsel for Reynolds admitted that he “should have, thought he had, but ultimately failed to file a timely notice of appeal of the order denying the motion for new trial.” Reynolds then filed a notice of appeal on January 3, 2022. In Cook v. State, 313 Ga. 471 (870 SE2d 758) (2022), however, the Supreme Court of Georgia eliminated the judicially created out-of-time appeal procedure in trial courts and held that a trial court is “without jurisdiction to decide [a] motion for out-of-time appeal” on the merits because there is “no legal authority for motions for out-of-time appeal in trial courts.” Id. at 506 (5). Cook also concluded that this holding is to be applied to “all cases that are currently on direct review or otherwise not yet final[,]” id., and directed that “pending and future motions for out-of-time appeals in trial courts should be dismissed, and trial court orders that have decided such motions on the merits . . . should be vacated if direct review of the case remains pending or if the case is otherwise not final.” Id. at 505 (4). Accordingly, the trial court’s order granting Reynolds’s motion for out-of-time appeal is vacated, and this case is remanded for the entry of an order dismissing Reynolds’s motion. In addition, because Reynolds’s motion for out-of-time appeal was granted in this case, the trial court is directed to vacate any subsequent rulings on filings the trial court lacked jurisdiction to decide without the granted out-of-time appeal.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 07/13/2022 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.