Samuel Gaines, Jr. v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: March 2, 2017
• Docket: A17A0989
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ February 22, 2017

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A17A0989. SAMUEL GAINES, JR. v. THE STATE.

Samuel Gaines was convicted of several crimes, and his attorney filed a motion for new trial. While awaiting a ruling on his motion for new trial, Gaines himself filed a document entitled “Petition for Writ of Mandamus,” seeking a ruling on his motion for new trial. The trial court denied Gaines’s petition on April 20, 2016, and Gaines filed both a notice of appeal and an application for discretionary appeal from that ruling in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court transferred the application to this Court after finding that the case did not invoke the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, and we dismissed the case because Gaines’s pro se filing while he was represented by counsel was a nullity and the order he sought to appeal was not a final judgment. Case No. A16D0427 (dismissed July 12, 2016). Before us now is the transferred direct appeal from the same order. We lack jurisdiction over this direct appeal for the same reasons we lacked jurisdiction in Case No. A16D0427. In addition, because we dismissed Gaines’s discretionary application raising the same issue, the doctrine of res judicata bars this direct appeal. See Norris v. Norris, 281 Ga. 566, 567-568 (2) (642 SE2d 34) (2007). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 02/22/2017 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.