After Cecil Wade Mathis, Jr., pled guilty in Washington County Superior Court to two counts of violating OCGA § 16-3-30 a, the trial court imposed a recidivist sentence pursuant to OCGA § 17-10-7 c. Mathis now appeals pro se from the trial court’s denial of his motion to vacate or modify his sentence, arguing that the trial court erred in sentencing him as a recidivist. In support of this claim, Mathis relies on OCGA § 17-10-7 b.1, which makes the recidivist sentencing statute inapplicable to cases involving certain drug offenses, including violations of OCGA § 16-13-30 a. We agree that the trial court erred in sentencing Mathis, and we therefore reverse the trial court’s order and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
“Because this appeal involves a question of law, we review both the record and the decision of the court below de novo.” Johnson v. Allied Recycling, 323 Ga. App. 427 746 SE2d 728 2013 citation and punctuation omitted. The facts are undisputed and show that during a traffic stop in October 2013, police discovered methamphetamine and the prescription drug Vyvanse in Mathis’s car. Police arrested Mathis, who was subsequently indicted on a number of charges, including two counts of possession of a controlled substance, in violation of OCGA § 16-13-30 a. Following Mathis’s indictment, the State filed notice of its intent to seek recidivist sentencing. The prior felonies set forth in the notice included a 1987 conviction for the sale of marijuana,1 a 1994 conviction for the manufacture of marijuana,2 and a 1994 conviction for criminal intent to commit an escape. Before trial, Mathis entered a negotiated guilty plea, pursuant to which he pled guilty to both counts of violating OCGA § 16-13-30 a and to two traffic violations.3 At the plea hearing, the State recommended that Mathis be sentenced as a recidivist under OCGA § 17-10-7 c based upon the three earlier felony convictions of which the State had given notice. OCGA § 17-10-7 c, in turn, provides that:
