Roney Wilson v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: July 23, 2021
• Docket: A21A1688
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ July 13, 2021

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A21A1688. RONEY WILSON v. THE STATE.

A jury found Roney Wilson guilty of felony murder and other crimes, and the trial court sentenced Wilson to life in prison. Wilson filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. Wilson then filed the instant appeal, which was docketed in this Court. Wilson has filed a motion to transfer the appeal to the Supreme Court. 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 to the Supreme Court “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, Wilson’s motion to transfer is hereby GRANTED, and this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 07/13/2021 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.