In February 2003, a Gwinnett County jury convicted Vasile Florescu of two counts of aggravated stalking, OCGA § 16-5-91. Florescu filed a motion for new trial, but the trial court issued an order in which it refused to conduct a hearing or to rule on the motion based upon its finding that Florescu was, at that time, mentally incompetent and unable to assist his counsel in challenging his conviction. Florescu appeals from the court’s order. For the following reasons, we reverse the trial court’s order and remand this case to the trial court for a hearing on Florescu’s motion for new trial. The record shows the following undisputed facts. In 2002, Florescu was arrested for stalking his former female co-worker. At trial, Florescu testified that the co-worker had tried to recruit him to join secret organizations, specifically Al-Qaida and the Taliban. He also testified that the co-worker offered him sex in exchange for $4,000 and that she exposed herself to him, revealing several unattractive distinguishing marks. Following Florescu’s conviction, a psychiatrist evaluated Florescu and determined that, at the time of the evaluation, Florescu was delusional and unable to assist his attorney in challenging his conviction. Florescu then filed an amended motion for new trial which contended, inter alia, that he had been incompetent to stand trial, that the trial court improperly failed to conduct a hearing on his competence, and that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a psychiatric evaluation prior to or during trial to establish his lack of competence.
Instead of conducting a hearing or ruling on the merits of Florescu’s motion for new trial, however, the trial court found that Florescu was currently incompetent to assist his attorney in pursuing the motion for new trial. Based upon this finding, the court issued an order refusing to rule on the motion. In explaining its order, the trial court wrote that Florescu had a right to be present at the motion for new trial hearing and that, in order for Florescu to prove his claim that he was denied a fair trial, Florescu would have to participate in the hearing and present evidence concerning his present mental health status, as well as his status prior to and during trial. The court then concluded that, since Florescu was currently incompetent, the hearing would have to be postponed until he had received treatment, was competent, and could participate.
