Warden Brenda Murrell appeals an order of the Superior Court of Dooley County granting Respondent Glenward Young’s petition for the writ of habeas corpus. Finding error on the part of the habeas court, we reverse. In June 1999, Young, on the advice of his public defender, entered a non-negotiated plea of guilty to one count of aggravated assault. The trial court imposed the maximum sentence of twenty years imprisonment. Young thereafter retained private counsel and filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea or alternatively for a reduction of sentence, claiming that his public defender had rendered misleading and erroneous advice in connection with his plea. At the conclusion of an evidentiary hearing on the motion to withdraw, at which Young and his public defender testified, the trial court announced its decision to deny the motion. Though the hearing was held in October 1999, the record reflects that the denial was not reduced to a written order until July 23, 2001.
Following the oral denial of his motion, Young filed a pro se notice of appeal of the trial court’s denial of the motion to withdraw. Subsequently, Young, still pro se, filed an extraordinary motion for new trial, and thereafter he filed a motion for appointment of counsel. Though the record contains no indication as to the trial court’s disposition on the latter motion, Young was represented by counsel at the eventual April 2001 hearing on the extraordinary motion for new trial. At the hearing, the State informed the trial court that Young had previously filed a notice of appeal as to the denial of the motion to withdraw, and on this basis, the extraordinary motion for new trial was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.1 The Court of Appeals thereafter affirmed the denial of Young’s motion to withdraw. Young v. State , 254 Ga. App. 262 562 SE2d 231 2002.
