Lester Smith v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: September 15, 2017
• Docket: A18D0060
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 29, 2017

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A18D0060. LESTER SMITH v. THE STATE.

Lester Smith was found guilty of malice murder and other crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder charge. The Supreme Court affirmed his convictions on appeal. Smith v. State, 290 Ga. 768 (723 SE2d 915) (2012). Smith later filed a motion to modify his sentence, which the trial court denied. He now seeks discretionary review of that ruling in this Court. Under our Constitution, the 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 murder, jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court. See OCGA § 17-10-30 (b); Neal v. State, 290 Ga. 563, 572 (722 SE2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, C. J., concurring); see also State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524 (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”). Accordingly, this application is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 08/29/2017 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.