James Goodwin v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: May 8, 2024
• Docket: A24D0323
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ May 08, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24D0323. JAMES GOODWIN v. THE STATE.

It appears from the very limited application materials that James Goodwin was found guilty, but mentally ill, of armed robbery and other crimes after a bench trial. He has filed in this Court a timely “Application for Appellate Review” of his convictions. Under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1), a party may file a direct appeal from “[a]ll final judgments, that is to say, where the case is no longer pending in the court below, except as provided in Code Section 5-6-35.” It does not appear that any provision of OCGA § 5-6-35 (a), the discretionary appeal statute, applies here. We will grant a timely application for discretionary appeal if the lower court’s order is subject to direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED, and Goodwin shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal in the trial court. If he has already filed a timely notice of appeal in the trial court, he need not file a second notice.1 The clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

1 Goodwin has attached a notice of appeal, but it is not file-stamped by the trial court clerk. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 05/08/2024 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.