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ALBANY, GA --
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a lower court’s ruling against a woman who pleaded guilty in 1998 to having sex with her sons.

Officials say Holly Cox and her husband Dennis Cox – who was city manager of Camilla back then -- were arrested after the mayor tipped off police who found pornographic files on Dennis’ city hall computer and in the couple’s home. In 1998, the Mitchell County grand jury charged them in a 37-count indictment with performing sexual acts with Holly’s sons who were 13- and 15-years-old at the time. The state accused the couple of recording the acts and distributing them on the Internet, officials say.

According to the Georgia Supreme Court report, Holly’s appeal said she was denied effective assistance of counsel by her trial attorney. It says at the time Holly was considering entering a plea bargain when her attorney advised her she would only spend 10 years in prison before being eligible for parole; the court says under state law she would have to spend 30 years in jail before being eligible for parole. They say Holly said had she known this she never would have pleaded guilty but instead gone to trial.

In 2008, after she had been in prison 10 years, Holly filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus – a civil proceeding available to already convicted prisoners giving them the opportunity to challenge their case on constitutional grounds in the county where they’re incarcerated. She alleged among other things that she had received “ineffective assistance of counsel” in violation of her constitutional rights.

The habeas court denied her relief, and she appealed to the state Supreme Court. This Court ruled in 2010 that the habeas court erred in finding that Cox’s attorney had not performed deficiently by giving her the wrong information, and it sent the case back to determine whether as a result of the deficiency, there was a “reasonable probability” she would have pleaded differently had she been given the correct information.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in Strickland v. Washington, ineffective assistance of counsel requires proof of both deficiency and prejudice. The habeas court again denied relief and Cox, representing herself “pro se,” again appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.

In Monday’s opinion, Justice Robert Benham points out the habeas court made a number of findings, including that Holly did not place “particular emphasis” on parole concerns during her plea hearing, that there was overwhelming evidence of her guilt, and that she “assumed the risk of receiving a sentence of extended duration when she entered a guilty plea without an agreement of a sentence to be recommended by the State.