Kyree Oshay Brantley v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: July 16, 2019
• Docket: A19A2297
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ July 08, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A19A2297. KYREE OSHAY BRANTLEY v. THE STATE.

A jury found Kyree Brantley guilty of felony murder and other offenses, and the trial court imposed a sentence of life in prison on the felony murder conviction. The Supreme Court affirmed Brantley’s conviction on direct appeal. Grimes v. State, 296 Ga. 337 (766 SE2d 72) (2014). In September 2018, Brantley filed a “Motion to Disclose Information,” in which he sought certain information regarding two of the jurors who served during his trial. The trial court dismissed Brantley’s motion, and he filed this direct appeal. We lack jurisdiction. 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), (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”), overruled in part on other grounds as recognized in Elliott v. State, 305 Ga. 179, 205 (III) (C) (i) (824 SE2d 265) (2019). Accordingly, Brantley’s appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 07/08/2019 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.