Ellison v. State

The appellant, Michael Ellison, appeals from the trial court’s ruling that it did not have jurisdiction to entertain Ellison’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea due to the fact that the term of court in which the plea was entered had expired. We conclude that the trial court did not err. Although Ellison urges this Court to abandon the term-of-court rule on which the trial court based its ruling, we decline to do so. We have affirmed the rule on numerous occasions,1 and have recently upheld it against a constitutional challenge.2 Moreover, contrary to Ellison’s contention, the authority granted to trial courts by OCGA § 17-10-1 f to modify sentences “within one year of the date upon which the sentence is imposed” does not, on its face, include the power to vacate the conviction on which the sentence is based.3 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court’s ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain Ellison’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

Judgment affirmed . All the Justices concur .