Bowens v. State

Beasley, Judge.

Bowens was indicted for the murder of his wife. OCGA § 16-5-1. Three days before scheduled trial, he pled guilty to the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter, OCGA § 16-5-2 (a), under authority of North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U. S. 25 (91 SC 160, 27 LE2d 162) (1970), and was sentenced to twenty years incarceration with credit for time served. He had the assistance of retained counsel but subsequently retained new counsel and within the same term of court moved to withdraw the guilty plea as not having been made intelligently or voluntarily. In the alternative, he…