Davis v. Georgia

In 1999, appellant Donald Davis pled guilty to the murder of Shereka Smith, for which he was convicted and sentenced. Davis did not timely pursue a direct appeal. Following his unsuccessful pursuit of a writ of habeas corpus, he filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal of his conviction, which the trial court denied. Davis appealed that denial to the Georgia Supreme Court. "[F]rustrating Davis’s present effort to obtain an out-of-time appeal is the doctrine of res judicata." The Court found that Davis filed a habeas petition in 2002, and the habeas court denied Davis relief. Although Davis did not “plainly raise in the [petition for writ of habeas corpus] the issues he raises now, there is no reason he could not have.” Therefore, because the trial court was precluded from considering this claim, it did not err in denying Davis’s motion for out-of-time appeal. View "Davis v. Georgia" on Justia Law