Robert Campbell v. Harry J. Altman, II

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: August 21, 2019
• Docket: A19A2481
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 05, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A19A2481. ROBERT CAMPBELL v. HARRY J. ALTMAN, II.

Robert Campbell was convicted of hijacking a motor vehicle and other crimes, and we affirmed his convictions on appeal. Campbell v. State, 314 Ga. App. 299 (724 SE2d 24) (2012). In January 2019, Campbell submitted a pro se petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the trial court to rule on a pending motion in his criminal case. The trial court dismissed the petition, and Campbell then filed the instant direct appeal. We, however, lack jurisdiction. While judgments and orders granting or refusing to grant mandamus relief 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 Campbell was incarcerated when he filed this action, he was required to file an application for discretionary appeal to seek an 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). Campbell’s failure to follow the required appellate procedure deprives us of jurisdiction over this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 08/05/2019 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.