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Powers v. State

The trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the defendant's motion to vacate judgment eight years after his guilty plea to sexual battery because it presented no cognizable claim that the defendant's sentence was unlawful but instead sought to challenge the conviction entered upon his guilty plea.

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Roscoe Powers, Jr. was charged with committing sexual battery in violation of OCGA §16-6-22.1. With the assistance of an attorney, Powers pled guilty to sexual battery in March 2005 and was sentenced to 12 months, six of which were to be served in confinement. More than eight years later, while incarcerated in federal prison for bank robbery, Powers filed a “Motion to Vacate Void Judgment” arguing that his guilty plea to sexual battery was void under OCGA §17-9-4 because it was not made freely and voluntarily. Powers also argued that the sentencing judge engaged in judicial misconduct under OCGA §17-8-57 by making improper comments on the record.

The trial court denied the motion, first noting that although its jurisdiction to modify or vacate a sentence was limited, it had jurisdiction to vacate a void sentence at any time. The court further noted that a sentence is void if the court imposes punishment that the law does not allow, but that Powers was actually challenging his underlying guilty plea. The trial court denied the motion, concluding that the issues Powers raised could not be considered in a “motion to void judgment” and were not valid under any other theory.

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