Carlisle v. State

The trial court lacked jurisdiction to try the defendant for offenses, which were nolle prossed, were not reinstated by an order vacating the nolle prosse within the same term of court and were not reindicted during the viable statute of limitations.

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We granted certiorari to the Court of Appeals in Carlisle v. State , 257 Ga. App. 282 570 SE2d 616 2002, to address an issue of first impression, namely whether certain criminal charges which had been the subject of a previous order of nolle prosequi may be revived where those charges have not been reindicted, the term of court in which the nolle pros was entered has expired without the trial court having vacated its entry of the order, and the statute of limitations for prosecution of those offenses has run. Under the circumstances of this case, we hold that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to try Carlisle on the counts of the indictment which had been nolle prossed, and we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals. In 1997 an 11-count indictment was returned against Janice Marie Carlisle, charging her, inter alia, with stalking, aggravated stalking, and various other felony offenses. Several months later, she entered a plea to two counts of stalking and two counts of aggravated stalking under North Carolina v. Alford , 400 U. S. 25 91 SC 160, 27 LE2d 162 1970. At the same time, the State tendered for nolle prosequi the remaining seven counts, and the trial court granted the request.1

In 1999 Carlisle filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the voluntariness of her plea. The writ was granted on the basis that she lacked the mental capacity to intelligently, freely, and voluntarily enter her plea. The State appealed, challenging only the voluntariness of the plea. We affirmed the habeas court’s ruling on the only ground raised —that Carlisle’s mental disorder and lack of medication prevented her from knowingly and voluntarily entering her plea. Wetherington v. Carlisle , 273 Ga. 854 547 SE2d 559 2001.

Carlisle v. State

The trial court lacked jurisdiction to try the defendant for offenses, which were nolle prossed, were not reinstated by an order vacating the nolle prosse within the same term of court and were not reindicted during the viable statute of limitations.

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