Justin Jamaria Carter v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: October 21, 2020
• Docket: A21A0496
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 20, 2020

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A21A0496. JUSTIN JAMARIA CARTER v. THE STATE.

Justin Jamaria Carter is charged with felony murder and other crimes. He has appealed to this Court from the trial court’s denial of his plea in bar. The State has filed a motion to transfer the appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.1 Under our Constitution, the Georgia Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over “[a]ll cases in which a sentence of death was imposed or could be imposed.” See Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III (8). Because a penalty of death can be imposed for the crime of felony murder, jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court. See OCGA § 16-5-1 (c), (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 “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).

1 Carter’s co-defendant, Jefrey Alexander Rios, filed a separate appeal that has already been transferred to the Supreme Court. See Case No. A21A0179 (transferred Sept. 4, 2020). Accordingly, the State’s motion to transfer is hereby GRANTED, and Carter’s appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Georgia Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 10/20/2020 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.