Tossing 24 years of case law that one justice said was “created out of whole cloth,” the Supreme Court of Georgia has held that defendants don’t have to prove they would prevail in their ineffective assistance of counsel claims to have a judge review appeals of their guilty pleas.

The nine justices unanimously overruled 89 related decisions from their own bench and the state Court of Appeals but appeared split over what should happen next.

Lewis Lamb, district attorney of the Southwestern Judicial Circuit. Lewis Lamb (Courtesy photo)