HINES, Presiding Justice.
Prisoner Dustin James Coulter files this pro se appeal from the denial of his motion
On May 2, 2006, a Bulloch County grand jury indicted Coulter, his wife Alexandra Coulter, and their friend Jerry Easters, for two counts each of malice murder, armed robbery, and possession of a knife during the commission of murder in connection with the November 21, 2005 armed robberies and fatal stabbings of Jack Walton Futch and his wife, Paula Franklin Futch. The State gave notice of its intent to seek the death penalty for Coulter on May 26, 2006, and the prosecution proceeded under the Unified Appeal Procedure. The application for interim review was denied by this Court on February 12, 2008. Following the empaneling of a jury to try Coulter, on November 7, 2008, Coulter, pursuant to a negotiated agreement, pled guilty to two counts of malice murder and received concurrent life sentences; the remaining counts were nol prossed. More than three years later, on February 2, 2012, Coulter filed, inter alia, a pro se motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. The trial court dismissed the motion for lack of jurisdiction on February 10, 2012, as the motion was filed outside the term of court in which the guilty pleas were entered.
Again proceeding pro se, on December 9, 2013, Coulter filed the present motion for an out-of-time appeal, claiming that he was denied a direct appeal due to the ineffective assistance of his counsel and inadequate advice about his appellate rights. As to the issues that Coulter would raise in a granted direct appeal, he alleged that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because of counsel's failure to advise him of his "right to appeal," and that his guilty pleas were not intelligently and knowingly, and therefore voluntarily, entered as the record is silent regarding venue of the charged crimes, and because the superior court did not advise him of all of the Boykin
1. The purpose of an out-of-time appeal is to address constitutional concerns that arise when a criminal defendant is denied a first appeal of right because the counsel to whom he was entitled to have assist him in that appeal was professionally deficient in failing to advise him to file a timely appeal, and that this deficiency caused him prejudice; therefore, an out-of-time appeal is appropriate when a direct appeal was not taken due to the ineffective assistance of counsel. Stephens v. State, 291 Ga. 837, 838(1), 733 S.E.2d 266 (2012). However, that is not the end of the analysis because in order to have an out-of-time appeal on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel, the defendant must have had the right to file a direct appeal, and a direct appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence entered following a guilty plea is available to the defendant only if the issue on appeal is capable of resolution by reference to facts on the record. Id. Consequently, a determinative factor in the availability of an out-of-time appeal when the defendant has pled guilty is whether the appeal can be decided based upon the existing record; any question of the effectiveness of counsel is not reached unless it can be resolved by reference to facts on the record. Id.
Thus, the first inquiry is whether the issues that Coulter seeks to appeal can be resolved on the existing record because, if not, he would have had no right to file even a timely appeal, and therefore, would not be entitled to an out-of-time appeal. Id. If, indeed, his claims require expansion of the record, he would have to pursue them by way of a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Id. But, if in his motion for an out-of-time appeal, Coulter has raised an issue that can be determined on the existing record, concerns regarding the effectiveness of his
2. In this appeal, Coulter enumerates the same claimed errors that he raised in the superior court in support of his motion for an out-of-time appeal. And, it is apparent that such claims can be resolved, albeit adversely to Coulter, on the present record.
(a) Coulter first contends that his pleas were not "intelligent, knowing, and voluntary" because venue of the crimes had to be proven and the record is silent on venue. However, the indictment returned by the Bulloch County grand jury to which Coulter pled guilty alleged that the malice murders occurred "in the county aforesaid," which was Bulloch County. Furthermore, although the State would have had to prove the facts establishing venue at any trial, when Coulter pled guilty to all the allegations in the malice murder counts of the indictment, he was admitting to all of the elements of the crime of malice murder, and he waived the defense of failure to establish venue. Wright v. Hall, 281 Ga. 318, 319(1), 638 S.E.2d 270 (2006).
(b) Coulter further contends that the plea court failed to advise him of all of his Boykin rights, specifically the right to confront witnesses against him, the right to compulsory process, and the privilege against self-incrimination at trial. But, the record reflects otherwise. During the plea hearing, Coulter affirmed that his two defense attorneys had advised him of all of his rights as set forth in his sworn statement. Then the plea court sufficiently went over the Boykin rights with Coulter during the plea hearing, and prior to the acceptance of his guilty pleas.
(c) Finally, Coulter maintains that his plea counsel was deficient for not advising him of his "right" to pursue a direct appeal, as evidenced by the silence of the record in this regard, and that he was prejudiced thereby because a timely direct appeal would have shown the State's failure to prove venue and
It was not error to refuse to grant Coulter an out-of-time appeal.
Judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur.