Christopher L. Johnson v. Joe C. Bishop

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: December 4, 2019
• Docket: A20A0730
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ November 18, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A20A0730. CHRISTOPHER L. JOHNSON v. JOE C. BISHOP et al.

Christopher L. Johnson is currently serving a life sentence for murder after entering a guilty plea in 1998. After the denial of Johnson’s motion for out-of-time appeal, he filed multiple post-conviction motions, including a petition for a “Writ of Error Quo Warranto,” a “Motion in Arrest to Stay the Judgment to Correct a Void Sentence and Judgment,” a “Motion for Judgment Nihil Dicit,” and a petition for a writ of mandamus. The trial court dismissed the filings. Johnson then filed the instant direct appeal. It appears, however, that jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court. In State v. Murray, 286 Ga. 258 (687 SE2d 790) (2009), the Supreme Court held that “[i]f the underlying action is a murder case, [the Supreme] Court has jurisdiction of the appeal, regardless of whether the order being appealed is based on facts having some bearing on the underlying criminal trial.” Id. at 259 (1). See also Neal v. State, 290 Ga. 563, 572 (722 SE2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, J., concurring); State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524, 524 (1) (322 SE2d 711) (1984) (directing this Court to transfer “all cases in which either a sentence of death or of life imprisonment has been imposed upon conviction of murder”). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 11/18/2019 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.