In re Interest of K.S.

814 S.E.2d 324
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMay 7, 2018
DocketS17G1344
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 814 S.E.2d 324 (In re Interest of K.S.) 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
In re Interest of K.S., 814 S.E.2d 324 (Ga. 2018).

Opinion

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

*325We granted certiorari in this case to address whether Georgia's new Juvenile Code requires a party to follow the interlocutory appeal procedures laid out in OCGA § 5-6-34 (b) when appealing an order concerning the transfer of a case from juvenile to superior court. We hold that it does not and, in so doing, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and remand the case to be decided on the merits.

The relevant facts, as recited by the Court of Appeals, are as follows:

[A]fter a series of car break-ins, the State filed delinquency petitions in the Juvenile Court of Douglas County alleging that five juvenile defendants (J.H., A.L., T.L., J.C., and K.S.) had committed acts in July 2015 which, if committed by an adult, would have constituted 32 counts of entering an automobile with the intent to commit a theft, one count of criminal gang activity, and one count of theft by taking. The delinquency petitions were originally filed in September 2015 and were later amended.
The State filed motions to transfer the delinquency cases to the Superior Court of Douglas County for prosecution. After conducting hearings on the State's motions, the juvenile court entered orders transferring the delinquency cases to superior court.

In the Interest of J.S., 340 Ga. App. 733, 733, 797 S.E.2d 185 (2017). K.S., along with his juvenile co-defendants, directly appealed the juvenile court's transfer orders, which the Court of Appeals dismissed, concluding that the plain language of OCGA § 15-11-564 required a party appealing a transfer order to follow the interlocutory appellate procedures of OCGA § 5-6-34 (b). Id. at 735-738, 797 S.E.2d 185. We disagree.

As this Court has previously explained, "the right to appeal is not constitutional, but instead depends on statutory authority." Jones v. Peach Trader Inc. , 302 Ga. 504, 511, 807 S.E.2d 840 (2017) (citing Islamkhan v. Khan, 299 Ga. 548, 550 (2), 787 S.E.2d 731 (2016) ). "A statute draws its meaning, of course, from its text," Chan v. Ellis, 296 Ga. 838, 839, 770 S.E.2d 851 (2015) and we must give the statutory text its plain and ordinary meaning, viewing it in the context in which it appears, and reading it in its most natural and reasonable way, Deal v. Coleman, 294 Ga. 170, 172-173, 751 S.E.2d 337 (2013). "The common and customary usages of the words are important, but so is their context." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Tibbles v. Teachers Retirement System of Ga., 297 Ga. 557, 558, 775 S.E.2d 527 (2015). "For context, we may look to other provisions of the same statute, the structure and history of the whole statute, and the other law-constitutional, statutory, and common law alike-that forms the legal background of the statutory provision in question." (Citation and punctuation omitted). Zaldivar v. Prickett, 297 Ga. 589, 591, 774 S.E.2d 688 (2015). When we construe such statutory authority on appeal, our review is de novo. Hankla v. Postell, 293 Ga. 692, 693, 749 S.E.2d 726 (2013). With these principles in mind, we turn to the statutory text in question.

Prior to the enactment of Georgia's new Juvenile Code, Georgia law allowed a juvenile defendant to directly appeal an order transferring a case from juvenile to superior court because such orders were determined to be final judgments. See, e.g., J.T.M. v. State, 142 Ga. App. 635, 236 S.E.2d 764 (1977) ; OCGA § 15-11-3, as it provided in 2012.1 When the General *326Assembly significantly revised Georgia's Juvenile Code, see Ga. L. 2013, p. 294,2 it enacted OCGA § 15-11-560 et seq., which address, inter alia, the transfer of a case from juvenile to superior court for criminal prosecution. Relevant to this case is OCGA § 15-11-564, which provides:

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Bluebook (online)
814 S.E.2d 324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-interest-of-ks-ga-2018.