In 1993, a jury found appellant Joseph M. Barnes guilty of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, and armed robbery and recommended a sentence of death for the murder. The trial court sentenced Barnes to death for the murder and also imposed a consecutive life sentence for the armed robbery. This Court affirmed Barnes’ convictions but vacated the death sentence and remanded to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing based on our conclusion that the trial court had improperly restricted the scope of mitigating evidence presented at the sentencing phase of Barnes’ trial. See Barnes v. State, 269 Ga. 345 27 496 SE2d 674 1998. On remand, Barnes and the State entered into a sentencing agreement under which Barnes accepted a sentence of life without parole and the State agreed to withdraw its notice of intent to seek the death penalty.1 The trial court accepted the agreement at a hearing on November 16, 1999 and sentenced Barnes to life without parole on his malice murder conviction. On August 30, 2011, Barnes, proceeding pro se, filed a motion for out-of-time appeal. Barnes appeals following the denial of his motion, and we affirm.
In prior cases, we have examined enumerations of error related to the validity of a sentencing agreement like Barnes’ under the same legal standards applicable to guilty pleas. See Hinely v. State, 275 Ga. 777, 783 5 573 SE2d 66 2002 holding in case involving sentencing agreement similar to Barnes’ that “the prospect of a greater sentence is not coercion that prevents the decision to plead guilty, or to accept a certain lesser sentence, from being free and voluntary”; Brantley v. State, 268 Ga. 151 1 486 SE2d 169 1997 analyzing claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with sentencing agreement under standard applicable to ineffective assistance claim in context of guilty plea. Likewise, in reviewing the issue on appeal in this case, we turn for guidance to our cases addressing the availability of an out-of-time appeal from a judgment and sentence entered on a guilty plea. “It is well established that a criminal defendant has no unqualified right to file a direct appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence entered on a guilty plea.” Citation and punctuation omitted. Brown v. State, 290 Ga. 321 1 720 SE2d 617 2012. “An appeal will lie . . . only if the errors asserted on appeal can be resolved by facts appearing on the face of the record, and the denial of a request for out-of-time appeal is proper if an examination of the record reveals no merit to the claimed errors.” Citations and punctuation omitted. Adams v. State, 285 Ga. 744 1 683 SE2d 586 2009.
