This Court granted criminal defendant Darion C. Barker a certificate of probable cause to appeal an order of the Superior Court of Wilcox County denying his application for a writ of habeas corpus in order to consider whether the habeas court erred in concluding that trial counsel and thus appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to further investigate the actual validity of Barker’s prior convictions in the face of the State’s notice of intent to rely on those convictions for sentencing enhancement purposes. Finding that it was not error to reject the claims of the ineffectiveness of counsel on the basis urged, we affirm the denial of habeas corpus relief. Barker was convicted in 1996 of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and because of his five prior convictions following guilty pleas, he was sentenced as a recidivist to life in prison without the possibility of parole pursuant to OCGA § §16-13-30 d, and 17-10-7 c. The Court of Appeals affirmed the 1996 conviction. See Barker v. State , 226 Ga. App. 747 487 SE2d 494 1997. In 2008, Barker filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging the ineffective assistance of both trial and appellate counsel. He claimed that his guilty pleas in the 1989,1993, and 1994 cases upon which his recidivist sentence was based were constitutionally infirm because he was not properly advised of his Boykin 1 rights and did not waive them, and therefore, that his 1996 sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole was illegal. He urged that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to inquire into and challenge the prior guilty pleas, and that his appellate counsel for the 1996 conviction was ineffective for failing to raise the ineffectiveness of trial counsel as an error on appeal.
Following a hearing, the habeas court granted Barker relief after finding that the State failed to show that Barker was aware of and knowingly and voluntarily waived his Boykin rights with respect to his 1993 conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and his 1994 convictions for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana. Consequently, the habeas court concluded that Barker’s 1996 sentence was illegal because he could not have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole absent the three constitutionally-invalid prior convictions. The habeas court declined to address the validity of Barker’s remaining two prior convictions or his ineffectiveness claims. The warden appealed the judgment of the habeas court, and this Court vacated the judgment and remanded the case to the habeas court after finding that any direct challenges to the prior convictions were waived for failure to raise them during the 1996 plea; however, inasmuch as Barker raised the issue in the context of the ineffectiveness of both trial and appellate counsel but the habeas court did not address such claims or consider whether the procedural default could be excused, the habeas court was directed to determine if Barker overcame the procedural default by satisfying either the “cause and prejudice” test or the “miscarriage of justice” test. Barrow v. Barker , 287 Ga. 145 695 SE2d 24 2010 2010. See Chatman v. Mancill , 278 Ga. 488 604 SE2d 154 2004.
