Pugh v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellant Philip Pugh entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to malice murder in connection with the shooting death of Vincent Newsome. On appeal, Pugh claimed the trial court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty but mentally ill plea for three reasons: (1) the trial court should have sua sponte conducted a competency hearing at the time of his guilty plea and that the failure to do so violated his procedural due process rights; (2) his substantive due process rights were violated by the trial court’s acceptance of the plea because Pugh was not competent to enter the plea and did not enter the plea voluntarily; and (3) he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel in that plea counsel failed to request a competency hearing. The Georgia Supreme Court found that given Pugh’s repeated assertions at the time of the plea that he was being threatened and forced into entering the plea, the State failed to meet its burden to show that his plea was knowing and voluntary. The Court therefore reversed Pugh’s conviction and remanded the case for further proceedings.
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