Ward v. State

Blackburn, Presiding Judge.

Following a jury trial in 1999, Stephen Ward was convicted of burglary and sentenced as a recidivist under OCGA § 17-10-7 (c). He appealed his conviction, which we affirmed in 2000 in Ward v. State. Eight years later in 2008, he filed a “Motion to Correct Void Sentence,” arguing that his sentence was void because the State failed to give proper pretrial notice under former OCGA § 17-10-2 (a) (1999) of its intent to use Ward’s prior convictions to seek recidivist punishment. Finding that proper notice was given on the day before the trial, the trial court entered an…