Antonio G. Rodericus pled guilty to two counts of aggravated assault on June 25, 2001. Rodericus was appointed an attorney to file a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas sometime in July 2001, but that attorney failed to file the motion, and another attorney was appointed in January 2002. A motion to withdraw the pleas was filed on January 16, 2002 in the Clayton County Superior Court. The trial court determined that it had no jurisdiction to hear the motion since it was filed after the expiration of the term of court in which the judgment of conviction was entered, and it dismissed the motion on February 15, 2002. Rodericus then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Superior Court of Johnson County, alleging that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel because the first attorney appointed by the court following the entry of his guilty pleas failed to timely file a motion to withdraw his pleas. The Johnson County habeas court did not specifically rule on the ineffectiveness claim or the motion to withdraw the guilty pleas, but instead returned the case to the Clayton County trial court so that Rodericus could file an “out-of-term and out-of-time motion to withdraw his guilty pleas in that court.”
Rodericus subsequently renewed his motion to withdraw his guilty pleas in the Clayton County trial court, and a hearing was held on the motion on October 23, 2003. An order denying the motion was entered on November 11, 2003, and a notice of appeal to this Court was filed on December 15, 2003. On January 9, 2004, this Court entered an order dismissing the appeal because the notice of appeal was not filed within 30 days of entry of the order denying the motion to withdraw the guilty pleas. OCGA § 5-6-38; Patel v. Georgia Power Co ., 234 Ga. App. 141, 141-142 505 SE2d 787 1998. On February 11, 2004, the Clayton County trial court entered an order allowing Rodericus to file an out-of time appeal, and Rodericus timely filed his notice of appeal on February 26, 2004. That appeal has been docketed in this Court as Case Number A04A1317.
