Ricardo Campus v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: September 20, 2023
• Docket: A23A1158
• Status: Published

Opinion

THIRD DIVISION DOYLE, P. J., GOBEIL, J., and SENIOR JUDGE FULLER

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.us/rules

September 20, 2023

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A23A1158. CAMPUS v. THE STATE.

FULLER, Senior Judge.

In April 2017, Ricardo Campus1 pled guilty in Gwinnett County Superior Court

to rape, aggravated assault, and first-degree cruelty to children, and the trial court

imposed a total sentence of 18 years in prison, to be followed by life on probation.

Campus, proceeding pro se, now appeals from the trial court’s dismissal of his

January 2023 “extraordinary” motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. Campus contends

that his pleas were involuntary because his counsel rendered ineffective assistance by

misinforming him of the collateral consequences of pleading guilty and failing to tell

1 Campus’s last name is spelled “Campos” in the parties’ appellate briefs and “Campus” in the trial court record. We use the spelling in the record. him that he would be required to serve his entire sentence. Because the trial court

lacked jurisdiction to grant Campus’s motion, we affirm.

A motion to withdraw a guilty plea “must be filed in the term of court in which

the defendant is sentenced.” Spriggs v. State, 296 Ga. 542, 542 (769 SE2d 392)

(2015). Otherwise, the trial court lacks jurisdiction to entertain such a motion. Id.;

Henderson v. State, 295 Ga. 333, 336-337 (2) (759 SE2d 827) (2014); Orr v. State,

276 Ga. 91, 93 (2) (575 SE2d 444) (2003).

Campus filed his January 2023 motion well outside of the 2017 term of court

in which his sentence was entered. See OCGA § 15-6-3 (20) (Gwinnett County

Superior Court terms begin on the first Monday in March, June, and December, and

the second Monday in September). Given the expiration of the term of court in which

he was sentenced, “[t]he only means now available to [Campus] for challenging the

guilty pleas he entered in [2017] is through a petition for [a] writ of habeas corpus.”

Orr, 276 Ga. at 93 (2); accord Foster v. State, 294 Ga. 400, 401 (754 SE2d 78)

(2014). And Campus neither argues nor cites any authority suggesting that

denominating his motion to withdraw his pleas as “extraordinary” changes that result.

He therefore has not met his burden of showing that the trial court erred when it

determined that it lacked jurisdiction to consider his untimely request to withdraw his

2 guilty pleas. See Spriggs, 296 Ga. at 542; Henderson, 295 Ga. at 336-337 (2). As a

result, we need not reach the merits of the substantive claims of error raised in

Campus’s appellate brief, and we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Judgment affirmed. Doyle, P. J., and Gobeil, J., concur.