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Matthews v. State

The record showed that the defendant entered his guilty plea to aggravated battery, cruelty to children and family violence battery knowingly and voluntarily.

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Kevin Matthews, Jr. appeals the post-sentencing denial of his motion to withdraw his plea of guilty to one count of aggravated battery Count 3, two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree Counts 4 & 5 , and one count of misdemeanor family violence battery Count 6 . All of these charges involved injuries to his infant son, including skull fractures, brain injuries, and loss of vision. Matthews’s sole enumeration of error is that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw his plea. “After sentence is pronounced, whether to allow the withdrawal of a guilty plea lies within the trial court’s sound discretion, and we review the trial court’s decision for manifest abuse of that discretion.” Citation and footnote omitted. Weeks v. State , 260 Ga. App. 129 578 SE2d 910 2003.1 See also Rocha v. State , 287 Ga. App. 446, 449 2 651 SE2d 781 2007. “On a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, the trial court is the final arbiter of all factual issues raised by the evidence.” Citation and punctuation omitted. Caudell v. State , 262 Ga. App. 44, 45 1 584 SE2d 649 2003.

Additionally, when the validity of a guilty plea is challenged, the State bears the burden of showing that the plea was voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently made. The State may do this by showing through the record of the guilty plea hearing that 1 the defendant has freely and voluntarily entered the plea with 2 an understanding of the nature of the charges against him and 3 an understanding of the consequences of his plea. Citations and punctuation omitted. Johnson v. State , 260 Ga. App. 897, 899 1 581 SE2d 407 2003.

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