Calvin Roberts v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: September 14, 2020
• Docket: A21D0050
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 14, 2020

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A21D0050. CALVIN ROBERTS v. THE STATE.

In this criminal case, the trial court issued an order dismissing defendant Calvin Roberts’s motion demanding a speedy trial and requesting counsel on the basis that the motion was filed by someone other than Roberts who was not authorized to practice law. Roberts has now filed an application for discretionary review of the trial court’s order. Because the criminal charges against Roberts remain pending below, he was required to comply with the interlocutory appeal procedure — including obtaining a certificate of immediate review from the trial court — to appeal the trial court’s order. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1), (b); Boyd v. State, 191 Ga. App. 435, 435 (383 SE2d 906) (1989). Although Roberts filed an application for discretionary review, as described in OCGA § 5-6-35, compliance with that procedure does not excuse a party seeking appellate review of an interlocutory order from complying with the additional requirements of OCGA § 5-6-34 (b). See Bailey v. Bailey, 266 Ga. 832, 833 (471 SE2d 213) (1996).1

1 In addition, although the denial of a speedy trial motion based on statutory grounds is immediately appealable, see Johnson v. State, 300 Ga. 252, 257 (3) (794 SE2d 60) (2016), the trial court’s order here did not deny a speedy trial motion based on statutory grounds, but dismissed Robert’s motion demanding a speedy trial and requesting counsel on the basis that the motion was improperly filed by a non- attorney. Roberts’s failure to comply with the interlocutory appeal procedure deprives us of jurisdiction over this application, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 09/14/2020 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.