Courtney Dubose v. State

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ February 16, 2016

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A16A0921. COURTNEY DUBOSE v. THE STATE.

A jury found Courtney DuBose guilty of several offenses, including felony murder.1 Following the denial of his motion for new trial, DuBose filed this direct appeal.

Under our Constitution, the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over “[a]ll cases in which a sentence of death was imposed or could be imposed.” See Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III (8). Because a penalty of death can be imposed for the crime of murder, jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court. See OCGA § 17-10-30 (b); Neal v. State, 290 Ga. 563, 572 (722 SE2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, C. J., concurring); see also State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 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 02/16/2016

Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 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.

1 DuBose was indicted for malice murder and two counts of felony murder.

With regard to the malice murder conviction, the jury found DuBose guilty of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. The trial court vacated one of the felony murder convictions, but sentenced DuBose to life without parole on the second felony murder conviction.