GA Law Group represents people convicted in Georgia courts on motions for new trial, direct appeals to the Court of Appeals of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia, and post-conviction relief through state habeas corpus and related motions.
Georgia criminal appeals move through two courts, the Court of Appeals of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia, in a sequence of steps that begins in the trial court within days of sentencing. Each step has its own deadline and its own rules about which arguments can still be raised. This page walks through that sequence and the post-conviction options that remain after the direct appeal ends.
The Court of Appeals hears most criminal appeals in Georgia, from misdemeanors through serious felonies. Its judges sit in panels and decide most cases on the written briefs, with oral argument in a smaller share of cases. The Georgia Constitution's "two-term rule" requires the Court of Appeals to decide each case by the end of the court term after the term in which the case was docketed, and the court has three terms a year. Once a case is docketed, a decision typically follows within months rather than years.
A Court of Appeals decision can be challenged by a motion for reconsideration and then by a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of Georgia. The timing is tight: under the Court of Appeals' rules, a notice of intent to seek certiorari must be filed in that court within 10 days of its judgment (or of its ruling on reconsideration), and the petition itself is due in the Supreme Court within 20 days. Certiorari is discretionary; the Supreme Court grants it in cases of great public concern or gravity.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over cases that turn on the constitutionality of a law or the construction of the Georgia or United States Constitution. It also hears all habeas corpus appeals, and all cases in which a death sentence was or could be imposed. For now, it also hears direct appeals in murder cases.
That last category is changing. In August 2026, the Supreme Court announced that, effective with cases docketed on or after July 1, 2027, it will stop exercising direct appellate jurisdiction over murder appeals in which the State did not seek the death penalty. Those appeals will go to the Court of Appeals, with Supreme Court review available by certiorari. If you or a family member has a murder conviction with a motion for new trial pending, the date the appeal is docketed may decide which court hears it. That is one more reason to involve appellate counsel early.
In most Georgia felony cases, the appeal effectively begins in the trial court. A motion for new trial must be filed within 30 days of the entry of judgment (O.C.G.A. § 5-5-40). A timely motion for new trial extends the time to appeal: the notice of appeal is then due within 30 days after the trial court rules on the motion (O.C.G.A. § 5-6-38).
The motion for new trial is more than a formality. It is often filed in a short "placeholder" form to meet the 30-day deadline and amended later, once the trial transcript is prepared and new counsel has reviewed the record. The hearing on the motion is where the appellate record is completed, which matters most for claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel.
Georgia law requires an ineffective-assistance claim to be raised at the earliest practicable moment. When new counsel is in the case before the motion for new trial is decided, that moment is usually the motion for new trial itself; a claim not raised then can be waived for the direct appeal. Trial counsel cannot argue their own ineffectiveness, which is why bringing in appellate counsel before the motion for new trial is decided matters so much.
A notice of appeal starts the appeal and must be filed within 30 days of the judgment or of the order deciding the motion for new trial. The trial court clerk then prepares the record and transcript for the appellate court, and the case is docketed. The appellant's brief lists the claimed errors, called enumerations of error, and argues them from the record and controlling law.
Common issues in Georgia criminal appeals include:
The appellate court may affirm, reverse, or vacate the judgment and send the case back to the trial court for further proceedings or a new trial. Even a clear error may be found harmless if the court concludes it did not affect the verdict, so an effective brief explains not only that an error occurred but why it mattered.
A guilty plea limits what can be appealed, but it does not end every option. A motion to withdraw a guilty plea generally must be filed within the same term of court in which the sentence was imposed; after the term ends, the trial court loses the power to grant it. From then on, a challenge to the plea, such as a claim that it was not knowing and voluntary or that counsel gave incorrect advice about its consequences, generally must be raised through habeas corpus.
Georgia's Habeas Corpus Act (O.C.G.A. § 9-14-40 and following) allows a person in custody to challenge a conviction or sentence on the ground that it was obtained in substantial violation of their rights under the Georgia or United States Constitution. Petitions are filed in the superior court of the county where the petitioner is incarcerated, and the court holds an evidentiary hearing where testimony and documents outside the trial record can be presented.
Habeas is where many claims are litigated that a direct appeal cannot reach, including ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, the prosecution's failure to disclose favorable evidence, and involuntary guilty pleas. Claims that could have been raised at trial or on direct appeal but were not are generally barred unless the petitioner shows cause and actual prejudice, or that a miscarriage of justice would result.
Deadlines: under O.C.G.A. § 9-14-42(c), a habeas petition challenging a felony conviction generally must be filed within four years of the date the conviction became final, and a challenge to a misdemeanor conviction within one year (with a shorter period for certain traffic misdemeanors). Death-sentence cases follow different rules. Some later-arising claims can start the clock at a different date.
If the habeas court denies relief, the only route to further review is an application to the Supreme Court of Georgia for a certificate of probable cause to appeal, filed together with a notice of appeal in the habeas court (O.C.G.A. § 9-14-52). The application is short, the deadline is short, and the Supreme Court's decision to hear the appeal is discretionary.
A motion for new trial filed after the 30-day window is an "extraordinary" motion under O.C.G.A. § 5-5-41. It requires good reason for the delay and is most often based on newly discovered evidence. Georgia courts apply a demanding test: the evidence must have come to light after trial, could not have been discovered sooner through due diligence, is material and not merely cumulative or impeaching, and is so significant that it would probably produce a different verdict. The statute also provides a separate procedure for motions seeking post-conviction DNA testing.
Under O.C.G.A. § 17-10-1(f), a sentencing court may correct or reduce a sentence if a motion is filed within one year of the date the sentence was imposed, or within 120 days after the court receives the remittitur following a direct appeal, whichever is later. The court is not required to rule within that period, and the prosecutor must have notice and an opportunity to be heard before any modification. A sentence the law does not allow, called a void sentence, can be challenged at any time.
For decades, Georgia trial courts granted "out-of-time appeals" to defendants whose lawyers failed to appeal. In Cook v. State (2022), the Supreme Court of Georgia held that trial courts had no authority to grant them. The General Assembly responded in 2025 with O.C.G.A. § 5-6-39.1, which lets a defendant ask the trial court for leave to file an out-of-time motion for new trial or notice of appeal, generally within 100 days after the ordinary deadline expires, on grounds such as counsel's deficient performance or excusable neglect. A separate window for defendants whose motions had been dismissed under Cook closed on June 30, 2026. Outside those limits, a defendant who was deprived of an appeal must generally raise the claim through habeas corpus.
After state remedies are exhausted, a Georgia prisoner may be able to file a federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern, Middle, or Southern District of Georgia. The federal one-year limitations period is much shorter than Georgia's four-year habeas window and can begin running before state habeas is filed, so waiting until the end of the state period can forfeit federal review entirely. Our federal habeas corpus page explains how the two clocks interact.
This page covers criminal cases. For appeals from civil judgments, including business disputes, contract and property cases, and probate litigation, see Georgia and federal civil appeals.
Reviewed by GA Law Group attorneys. Last updated October 13, 2026. This page provides general information about Georgia and federal appellate procedure, not legal advice for your situation. Deadlines are strict and fact-specific. Admission to practice before a court does not imply specialization or certification, and no particular outcome can be guaranteed.
GA Law Group represents people seeking federal post-conviction relief in Georgia. We handle habeas petitions under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging state convictions, motions under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 challenging federal convictions and sentences, and appeals from both to the Eleventh Circuit.
Learn MoreOur attorneys are admitted to practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, where we handle federal criminal and civil appeals from briefing through oral argument and rehearing.
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