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Final Copy 290 Ga. 456 S11A1306. COLLIER v. THE STATE. MELTON, Justice. On May 10, 2005, Kelvin Collier pled guilty to trafficking in cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to thirty years, ten to serve, with the remaining twenty on probation.1 Collier filed a petition for habeas relief on May 6, 2009, asserting that: (1) his plea was made under duress; (2) his plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered; (3) the trial court failed to establish an adequate factual basis for the plea; (4) the conviction was obtained by use of evidence gained pursuant to an illegal search and seizure; (5) the indictment was fatally defective; (6) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction; (7) he was denied effective assistance of trial counsel; and (8) he was denied effective assistance of appellate counsel. The habeas court scheduled a hearing for May 12, 2010, per Collier's request. On that

Collier previously filed a motion to withdraw the plea, which the trial court denied. Collier then filed a motion for out-of-time appeal to challenge the trial court's denial of his motion to withdraw. The trial court granted Collier's motion for out-of-time appeal. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's denial of Collier's motion to withdraw the plea. Collier v. State, 281 Ga. App. 646 (637 SE2d 72) (2006).
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date, the habeas court entered an order stating that Collier did not appear at the call of the case and did not contact the court to explain his absence. The court's order denied relief, finding that all grounds except for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel were barred by res judicata or waived through entry of the plea. The habeas court denied relief on the claim for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failure to prosecute. This Court granted Collier's application for a certificate of probable cause to assess the propriety of the habeas court's ruling. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part. As an initial matter, pursuant to OCGA

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