Dominique Materne v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: October 18, 2024
• Docket: A25I0067
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 18, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A25I0067. DOMINIQUE MATERNE v. THE STATE.

The State charged Dominique Materne with felony murder and cruelty to children in the first degree. Materne filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, which the trial court denied, and Materne now seeks interlocutory review. The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over “[a]ll cases in which a sentence of death was imposed or could be imposed.” Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III (8). Because a penalty of death may be imposed for the crime of felony murder, jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court. See OCGA § 16-5-1 (c) and (e) (1); Neal v. State, 290 Ga. 563, 572 (722 SE2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, C. J., concurring); see also State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524, 524 (1) (322 SE2d 711) (1984) (directing this Court to transfer to the Supreme Court “all cases in which either a sentence of death or of life imprisonment has been imposed upon conviction of murder, and all pre-conviction appeals in murder cases”), overruled in part on other grounds as recognized in Elliott v. State, 305 Ga. 179, 205 (III) (C) (i) (824 SE2d 265) (2019). Accordingly, this application is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 10/18/2024 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.