Shea Belcher v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: July 9, 2013
• Docket: A13A2039
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ July 09, 2013

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A13A2039. SHEA BELCHER v. THE STATE.

In 2006, Shea Belcher pled guilty to armed robbery and simple kidnapping. Belcher’s conviction was affirmed by this Court in an unpublished opinion. See Belcher v. State, Case No. A11A2138 (decided February 16, 2012). In October of 2012, Belcher filed a “Motion to Correct Void Sentence.” The trial court denied the motion, and Belcher filed this direct appeal. A direct appeal lies from the denial of a motion to correct a void sentence when the defendant raises a colorable claim that the sentence is, in fact, void or illegal. See Burg v. State, 297 Ga. App. 118, 119 (676 SE2d 465) (2009). However, “[a] sentence is only void when the trial court imposes a punishment that the law does not allow.” See Coleman v. State, 305 Ga. App. 680 (700 SE2d 668) (2010). Here, Belcher does not actually assert that his sentence was void; he argues that the indictment was invalid because he waived the right to a grand jury indictment. By pleading guilty, however, Belcher has “waived all defenses except that the indictment charged no crime.” Kemp v. Simpson, 278 Ga. 439, 439-440 (603 SE2d 267) (2004). Under these circumstances, Belcher has not raised a valid void sentence claim. Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 07/09/2013 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.