Court Filings

The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court exceeded its authority by directing the Department of Corrections (DOC) to credit the defendant, Jonathan Lynn Stansell, with time served beginning January 26, 2022, for burglary and theft convictions where Stansell was not arrested on those charges until January 12, 2025. The court held the sentencing judge misdirected the correctional custodian because only the custodian/DOC computes credit for time served under state law. The panel vacated the portion of the sentencing orders that set the starting date for credit and remanded to remove that language.

The Georgia Supreme Court vacated the trial court’s dismissal of Jonathan Miller’s motion to correct a void sentence and remanded for further proceedings. Miller, who was sentenced to life with parole after convictions including felony murder for a 1998 killing committed when he was 15, argued his life sentence is grossly disproportionate in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Court held that an Eighth Amendment disproportionality claim is a cognizable void-sentence claim that may be raised at any time, found the trial court erred by dismissing for lack of jurisdiction, and remanded because the record did not clearly show the trial court decided the constitutional claim on the merits.

The Court of Appeals vacated the trial court’s order that had granted Ricky Thompson an out-of-time appeal from his convictions for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. The court found the trial court lacked authority under the statutory deadline in OCGA § 5-6-39.1 because Thompson filed his motion 114 days after the time to appeal expired, exceeding the statute’s 100-day window. The panel remanded with directions to dismiss the out-of-time appeal motion and noted that any remedy must be pursued by habeas corpus under existing precedent.