Court Opinion

ID: 9917018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-11 15:02:22.067178+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:54:45.719208
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                        ATLANTA,____________________
                                                 January 11, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A0646. JOHNNY EUGENE HOLTON v. THE STATE.

      Johnny Eugene Holton was charged with one count each of aggravated sodomy
and aggravated child molestation, and he entered a negotiated plea to two counts of
child molestation as lesser-included offenses of the original charges. After Holton
moved to vacate his sentence as void, the trial court resentenced Holton to 20 years
with 15 to serve on Count 1, and 20 years with five to serve on Count 2. The prison
term of Count 2 was to run consecutively to that of Count 1, and the probation of
Count 1 was to run concurrently with the prison term of Count 2, for a total of 20
years to serve followed by 15 years of probation.
      Holton appealed his new sentence, and we affirmed his new sentences on
appeal in an unpublished opinion. See Case No. A21A1223 (Jan. 5, 2022). Holton
subsequently filed a new motion to vacate void sentence, which the trial court denied,
and we dismissed his appeal as barred by law of the case. See Case No. A23A0816
(Feb. 27, 2023). Holton then filed a motion for merger, claiming his two counts of
child molestation should have been merged, which the trial court denied. We
dismissed his direct appeal from that order on the ground that he was not authorized
to collaterally attack his convictions. See Case No. A24A0255 (Sept. 28, 2023).
      In the instant appeal, Holton appeals from the denial of his motion to vacate
void sentence and motion requesting data regarding the motion to vacate. As we
instructed Holton in his previous appeal, “[i]t is well established that any issue that
was raised and resolved in an earlier appeal is the law of the case and is binding on
this Court[.]” Ross v. State, 310 Ga. App. 326, 327 (713 SE2d 438) (2011)
(punctuation and footnote omitted). We have already considered the validity of
Holton’s sentence in a prior appeal. Holton “is not entitled to multiple bites at the
apple.” Id. at 328; see also Paradise v. State, 321 Ga. App. 371, 373 (740 SE2d 238)
(2013) (“Although a void sentence may be challenged at any time, this important
legal principle is, nevertheless, subject to the equally well established principles of
res judicata and the law-of-the-case rule once the issue has been raised and ruled
upon.”) (citation and punctuation omitted); Echols v. State, 243 Ga. App. 775, 776
(534 SE2d 464) (2000) (the same issue cannot be relitigated ad infinitum; our
determination in an earlier appeal is res judicata). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby
DISMISSED.

                                        Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                               Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                         01/11/2024
                                               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.