Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A20A0147. JAMEZ ANTWANE BRYANT v. THE STATE.

In 2018, while represented by counsel, Jamez Antwane Bryant was convicted

upon his Alford plea and given an aggregate sentence of 30 years, to serve 20 in

confinement. Bryant thereafter filed numerous pro se motions, including a motion

for an out-of-time appeal in which he asserted that he had not been adequately

informed of his right to appeal and had lost that right due to his ignorance of the law,

his counsel’s negligence, and “ineffective counsel.” The trial court denied Bryant’s

motions in a consolidated order entered on April 26, 2019. Bryant filed a pro se

notice of appeal, but the ensuing appeal was dismissed because the notice of appeal

was untimely filed. See Case No. A20A0052 (dismissal order issued August 5,

2019). See OCGA § 5-6-38 (a) (The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is

an absolute requirement to confer appellate jurisdiction on this Court.); Rowland v.

State, 264 Ga. 872, 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995).

Back in the trial court, Bryant filed multiple pro se motions, including another

motion for an out-of-time appeal, wherein (as amended) Bryant reasserted that he had

lost his right to appeal because he was not advised of that right due to ineffective

assistance of counsel. The trial court deniedBryant’smotion (as amended), expressly

noting in its order that “similar arguments were rejected by this [trial court] by order

dated April 26, 2019.” This direct appeal arises from that order. See generally

Rowland, 264 Ga. at 876 (2) (denial of motion for an out-of-time appeal is directly

appealable).

April 21, 2020
“It is axiomatic that the same issue cannot be relitigated ad infinitum. The

same is true of appeals of the same issue on the same grounds.” Echols v. State, 243

Ga. App. 775, 776 (534 SE2d 464) (2000); see also Jordan v. State, 253 Ga. App.

510, 511-512 (2) (559 SE2d 528) (2002). Our dismissal of Bryant’s prior appeal,

Case No. A20A0052, acts as res judicata. See Potter-Miller v. Reed, 302 Ga. App.

199, 200 (2) (690 SE2d 215) (2010) (“The effect of the dismissal of the first appeal

from an appealable judgment was to affirm the judgment of the trial court there

excepted to and the trial court was without authority to vacate or alter such prior

judgment which was res judicata between the parties.”); Johnson v. State, 272 Ga.

App. 294, 296-297 (6) (612 SE2d 29) (2005) (“[A]rguments [appellant] could and

should have made in [his] previous appeal . . . present nothing for this Court to

review.”). Consequently, this second appeal from the denial of a motion for an outof-time appeal is hereby DISMISSED. See Jordan, 253 Ga. App. at 512 (2); Echols,

supra (dismissing second appeal from the denial of a motion for an out of time appeal,

where adjudication in the first appeal wasresjudicata and the second appeal wasthus

barred).

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________

I certify that the above is a true extract from

the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court

hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.

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04/21/2020