Ashleigh Ricks pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. While still represented by plea counsel and before the end of the term of court, she filed pro se motions challenging the plea and asking for a sentence reduction. Later filings occurred after the term had ended, and new counsel argued at a hearing that Ricks should be allowed to withdraw the plea. The trial court treated the filings as motions to withdraw and denied them on the merits. The Georgia Supreme Court vacated that order. It held that the earlier pro se filings were legal nullities because Ricks remained represented when she filed them, while the later filings were untimely because the trial court’s authority to withdraw a guilty plea ended with the term of court. New counsel’s argument could not make the inoperative filings effective. The trial court should have dismissed the filings rather than decide the merits, so the Court remanded with instructions to dismiss.