Tolbert v. Toole
Annotate this CaseThe Georgia Supreme Court granted David Tolbert’s application to consider whether the habeas court erred in ruling that Tolbert had procedurally defaulted his jurisdictional claim based on a pretrial, pro se notice of appeal. In 2009, a jury found Tolbert guilty of armed robbery and other crimes, and he was sentenced to life in prison. The Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions on direct appeal. Tolbert then filed a petition for habeas corpus alleging, among other things, that his pro se notice of appeal from the trial court’s pretrial oral ruling denying his motion for discharge and acquittal had never been resolved and therefore deprived the court of jurisdiction to try him, rendering his resulting judgments of conviction void. After its review, the Supreme Court concluded that the habeas court’s procedural default ruling was erroneous, but it also concluded that the record on appeal did not support Tolbert’s jurisdictional claim. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the denial of habeas relief under the "right-for-any-reason" doctrine.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.