Daker v. State

792 S.E.2d 382, 300 Ga. 74, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 655
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 17, 2016
DocketS16A1372, S16A1373, S16A1393
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 792 S.E.2d 382 (Daker v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Daker v. State, 792 S.E.2d 382, 300 Ga. 74, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 655 (Ga. 2016).

Opinion

Per curiam.

Following a jury trial, Waseem Daker was found guilty of the malice murder of Karmen Smith, the felony murder of Karmen Smith, burglary, the false imprisonment of Karmen Smith, aggravated assault of Karmen Smith, aggravated battery of Nick Smith, and criminal attempt to commit aggravated stalking of Loretta Spencer Blatz. Daker, acting pro se, appeals, contending that the trial court treated him unfairly, that the trial court erred by denying several of Daker’s motions to recuse, and that this Court’s Rule 20 is unconstitutional.1 We affirm.

1. As an initial matter, in each of his notices of appeal, Daker requested that all transcripts and supporting evidence be omitted from the record on appeal. In Case No. S16A1372, Daker’s notice of appeal refers only to the trial court’s “September 26, 2014 order denying defendant’s eighteenth motion to recuse.” In Case No. S16A1373, Daker’s notice of appeal refers only to the trial court’s “October 14, 2014 order granting State’s motion to complete the record on appeal” with all transcripts and evidence. The grant of this motion, however, applies to a prior attempted appeal by Daker before this Court and addresses the notices of appeal relating to that prior appeal. It predates and does not address Daker’s current notices of appeal, which create a new appeal for our consideration following the remand of his case on January 29, 2015. Indeed, in the order remanding that case, we instructed Daker that he would be required to file a new [75]*75notice of appeal following the consideration of certain issues by the trial court. At best, therefore, this notice of appeal raises a moot issue. In Case No. S16A1393, Daker’s notice of appeal refers only to the trial court’s “August 2015 order denying his motions to disqualify the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.” In each of these notices, Daker requests that the trial court’s order be included in the record on appeal, but he explicitly requests that all other evidence and transcripts be omitted. Therefore, as Daker requested, the record in the three consolidated appeals now before this Court omits all transcripts.2

In murder cases, we usually consider the legal sufficiency of the evidence, even in cases in which the defendant does not dispute that the evidence is sufficient to sustain [his] convictions. But in this case, [Daker] directed the clerk of the trial court to omit all of the pretrial and trial transcripts from the record on appeal .... Without the trial transcripts, we cannot adhere to our usual practice, see Okeke v. State, 272 Ga. App. 529 (613 SE2d 125) (2005), and we decide nothing about the legal sufficiency of the evidence in this case.

Smith v. State, 295 Ga. 120 n. 1 (757 SE2d 865) (2014).

The absence of the trial transcript makes it impossible for this Court to review [Daker’s] enumerations of error concerning the . . . rulings below. “It is the burden of the complaining party, including pro se appellants, to compile a complete record of what happened at the trial level, and when this is not done, there is nothing for the appellate court to review.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Farris v. State, 236 Ga. App. 241 (511 SE2d 601) (1999).

Okeke, supra. Therefore, with regard to Daker’s four enumerations regarding the trial court’s alleged bias and alleged comments on the evidence, Daker has not properly presented anything for this Court to review. Smith, supra.

2. Daker contends that this Court’s Rule 20, which imposes a 50-page limit on an appellant’s brief in a non-death penalty appeal of a criminal case, is unconstitutional. Daker’s contention in this regard is baseless.

[76]*76As the Court of Appeals has recognized, “requirements as to the form of appellate briefs were created not to provide an obstacle, but to aid parties in presenting their arguments in a manner most likely to be fully and efficiently comprehended by this Court.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) McCrary v. State, 274 Ga.App. 5 (616 SE2d 222) (2005). And, as other jurisdictions have recognized, “[t]o function with any sort of efficiency, a court must control the cases before it.” Watts v. Thompson, 116 F3d 220, 224 (7th Cir. 1997). Page limits, therefore, benefit both the parties who file briefs and the courts which must consider them.

Contrary to Daker’s arguments, due process and equal protection do not require this Court to allow him to file a brief of any length he wishes.3

Both the United States and Georgia Constitutions provide that the State shall deprive no person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” United States Const., Amend. XIV, Sec. 1; Art. I, Sec. I, Par. I of the Constitution of the State of Georgia (1983). “The fundamental idea of due process is notice and an opportunity to be heard.” Nix v. Long Mtn. Resources, 262 Ga. 506, 509 (422 SE2d 195) (1992). It does not, however, guarantee “a particular form or method of state procedure. [Cit.]” Id.

Padidham v. State, 291 Ga. 99, 101 (2) (728 SE2d 175) (2012). “Federal courts have routinely dismissed due process challenges based on page limits. See, e.g., Watts v. Thompson, [supra] (finding no due process violation because ‘(enforcing page limits and other restrictions on litigants is rather ordinary practice’).” May v. Shinseki, 544 Fed. Appx. 1002, 1005 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Here, Dakerhasbeen given a full opportunity to be heard in a manner that allows his claims to be fairly and efficiently considered. As such, he has not been denied due process. Padidham, supra. Likewise, the page limits imposed upon Daker are the same limits imposed on all criminal appellants who bring an action to this Court, and there is no equal protection violation in which similar classes are treated similarly. See, e.g., Harper v. State of Ga., 292 Ga. 557, 560 (1) (738 SE2d 584) (2013) (the claimant must establish that he is similarly situated to members of [77]*77the class who are treated differently from him).4 Therefore, Daker’s contentions that Rule 20 of this Court is unconstitutional have no merit.

3. In three related enumerations of error, Daker contends that the trial court erred by denying some of his numerous motions for recusal.5 Specifically, Daker focuses on his first and second motions to recuse.6 Daker’s enumerations have no merit.

The record shows that Daker filed a motion for writ of mandamus against all the judges of the Cobb County Superior Court, including Judge Mary Staley Among other things, Daker contended that he had not been given a timely bond hearing. Later, after his criminal trial was assigned to Judge Staley, Daker filed his first motion to recuse her. With this motion, Daker filed a personal affidavit in which he broadly claimed that his prior motion placed Judge Staley in a position of bias. Daker provided no specific facts to support this claim. Instead, his affidavit presented his own speculations of bias, at best.

In general,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
792 S.E.2d 382, 300 Ga. 74, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daker-v-state-ga-2016.