Mike Redford v. Tammy M. Howard

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: June 5, 2020
• Docket: A20A1364
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ June 04, 2020

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A20A1364. MIKE REDFORD v. TAMMY M. HOWARD et al.

Mike Redford, a prisoner proceeding pro se, filed a mandamus petition against Tammy Howard, the Clerk of the Douglas County Superior Court, and Ryan Leonard, the District Attorney, seeking to compel the transmission of a transcript for his criminal appeal. The trial court dismissed Redford’s mandamus petition as moot, and Redford filed this appeal. We, however, lack jurisdiction. Although judgments and orders granting or refusing to grant mandamus are generally directly appealable, see OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (7), under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, any appeal in a civil case that was initiated by a prisoner must come by discretionary application. See OCGA § 42-12-8; Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489, 490 (480 SE2d 24) (1997). Because Redford is incarcerated, he was required to file an application for discretionary appeal to seek appeal of the trial court’s order. “[C]ompliance with the discretionary appeals procedure is jurisdictional.” Fabe v. Floyd, 199 Ga. App. 322, 332 (1) (405 SE2d 265) (1991). Redford’s failure to follow the required appellate procedure deprives us of jurisdiction over this appeal. The appellees have filed motions to dismiss on this ground. Those motions are hereby GRANTED, and this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 06/04/2020 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.