Herman Deran Braxton v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: May 15, 2023
• Docket: A23A0493
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ May 15, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A23A0493. BRAXTON v. STATE.

Herman Deran Braxton raises, for the first time in this appeal, claims that his rights to a public proceeding and to be present during a hearing were violated. Both Braxton and the state acknowledge that remand is appropriate to develop the evidentiary record on the public proceeding claim. The state also concedes that remand is appropriate to develop the record on Braxton’s newly-asserted right-to-be- present claim. See Champ v. State, 310 Ga. 832, 844 (2) (c) (854 SE2d 706) (2021) (“when a defendant raises a right-to-be-present claim for the first time on appeal, unless that claim can be easily rejected based on the existing record, the case should be remanded to the trial court for a hearing at which the parties have an opportunity to supplement the record with relevant evidence and after which the trial court may make factual findings and issue an order ruling on the claim”). Accordingly, we hereby remand the case to the trial court to give the parties the opportunity to develop the record with relevant evidence and to allow the trial court to rule on both of these claims in the first instance. The trial court’s rulings “may then be reviewed in a subsequent appeal.” Id. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 05/15/2023 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.