Preview:

Final Copy 290 Ga. 693 S11A1411. COX v. HOWERTON. BENHAM, Justice. This appeal returns to us following our grant in 2010 of appellant Holly Cox's pro se application for a certificate of probable cause and our remand of the case to the habeas court with direction "to analyze and make appropriate findings and legal conclusions regarding the prejudice prong of the test for ineffective assistance of counsel." See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (104 SC 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984). On remand, the habeas court concluded that Cox did not satisfy the prejudice prong and denied relief. We again granted Cox's pro se application for a certificate of probable cause, and examine the habeas court's rationale for concluding that Cox did not establish the requisite prejudice to authorize relief. Cox entered guilty pleas in 1998 in Mitchell County to charges of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, and incest, for which she was sentenced to serve consecutively terms of 30 years and of 20 years, and to serve concurrently a term of ten years. She entered her guilty pleas after having been informed by trial counsel and the trial court that she would be eligible for parole

after serving ten years. In point of fact, the General Assembly had designated aggravated child molestation as a serious violent felony and statutorily required that "[a]ny sentence imposed for the first conviction of any serious violent felony . . . shall be served in its entirety as imposed by the sentencing court and shall not be reduced by any form of parole or early release. . . ." Ga. L. 1994, p. 1959,

Download S11A1411. COX v. HOWERTON, WARDEN.pdf

Georgia Law