The main statute covering recidivist sentencing is found at O.C.G.A. § 17-10-7. That statute provides:
a. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, any person convicted of a felony offense in this state or having been convicted under the laws of any other state or of the United States of a crime which if committed within this state would be a felony and sentenced to confinement in a penal institution, who shall afterwards commit a felony punishable by confinement in a penal institution, shall be sentenced to undergo the longest period of time prescribed for the punishment of the subsequent offense of which he or she stands convicted, provided that, unless otherwise provided by law, the trial judge may, in his or her discretion, probate or suspend the maximum sentence prescribed for the offense.
b. (1) As used in this subsection, the term "serious violent felony" means a serious violent felony as defined in subsection (a) of Code Section 17-10-6.1.
(2) Any person who has been convicted of a serious violent felony in this state or who has been convicted under the laws of any other state or of the United States of a crime which if committed in this state would be a serious violent felony and who after such first conviction subsequently commits and is convicted of a serious violent felony for which such person is not sentenced to death shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole. Any such sentence of life without parole shall not be suspended, stayed, probated, deferred, or withheld, and any such person sentenced pursuant to this paragraph shall not be eligible for any form of pardon, parole, or early release administered by the State Board of Pardons and Paroles or for any earned time, early release, work release, leave, or any other sentence-reducing measures under programs administered by the Department of Corrections, the effect of which would be to reduce the sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole, except as may be authorized by any existing or future provisions of the Constitution.
c. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, any person who, after having been convicted under the laws of this state for three felonies or having been convicted under the laws of any other state or of the United States of three crimes which if committed within this state would be felonies, commits a felony within this state shall, upon conviction for such fourth offense or for subsequent offenses, serve the maximum time provided in the sentence of the judge based upon such conviction and shall not be eligible for parole until the maximum sentence has been served.
d. For the purpose of this Code section, conviction of two or more crimes charged on separate counts of one indictment or accusation, or in two or more indictments or accusations consolidated for trial, shall be deemed to be only one conviction.
When the State in a case other than a death penalty case seeks to sentence a defendant as a recidivist based upon prior guilty pleas, the State has the burden of proving: 1) the existence of the prior guilty pleas and 2) that the defendant was represented by counsel in all felony cases and those misdemeanor cases that resulted in imprisonment. Beck v. State, 283 Ga. 352 (2008); Nash v. State, 271 Ga. 281 (1999). If the State makes those two showings, the burden shifts to the defendant to produce some evidence showing a violation of his rights or procedural irregularity when the pleas were made. Wells v. State, 313 Ga. App. 528 (2012).
While the better practice for the judge to indicate on the sentence which subsection of the recidivist statute applies to the case, the failure to do so does not constitute grounds for reversal. Smith v. State, 312 Ga. App. 174 (2011).
If a judge sentences a defendant as a recidivist to the maximum penalty under the mistaken belief that he had no discretion to suspend or probate any part of the sentence, the case can be sent back to the judge for resentencing. Reese v. State, 313 Ga. App. 746 (2012); Henderson v. State, 247 Ga. App. 31 (2000).