Steven Regent entered into a non-negotiated guilty plea to aggravated assault and aggravated battery after twice slitting his girlfriend’s throat, and was sentenced to 20 years on the aggravated assault, of which 12 were to be served in custody, and ten years probation on the aggravated battery, consecutive to the assault sentence. After several hearings on the issue, the trial court also ordered Regent to pay restitution of $15,250 and denied his motion to void his aggravated assault conviction and sentence. Regent appeals pro se, arguing the trial court erred in refusing to void his aggravated assault conviction and sentence and erred in its restitution order. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. The State argues that Regent’s appeal should be dismissed because he had no right to directly appeal the denial of his “motion to void and vacate the illegal conviction and sentence on the aggravated assault charge.” In Harper v. State , 286 Ga. 216 686 SE2d 786 2009, our Supreme Court held that a petition to vacate a judgment of conviction is not an appropriate remedy in a criminal case, overruling previous cases holding that a criminal defendant could challenge his conviction at any time by filing any motion or pleading alleging the conviction was void. The court subsequently explained that a claim that a charge should have merged under OCGA § 16-1-7 is a specific attack on the conviction. Although the determination that the conviction is void requires that the sentence also be set aside, as would be the case when a conviction is declared void for any reason, this fact does not alter the fundamental nature of the challenge to the conviction itself. In contrast, a challenge to a void sentence presupposes that the trial court was authorized to sentence the defendant but the sentence imposed was not allowed by law. Williams v. State , 287 Ga. 192, 193 695 SE2d 244 2010.
Regent responds that this Court has jurisdiction to review the merger issue because he filed a timely direct appeal from the restitution order, and this is his first opportunity to argue the merger issue on appeal. We agree. Regent’s sentence was not final until the trial court ruled on the restitution issue, which was directly appealable in its own right. See Williams v. State , 247 Ga. App. 783 545 SE2d 343 2001
