State v. Janet Lee Miller

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: February 22, 2018
• Docket: A18A1147
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ February 22, 2018

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A18A1147. THE STATE v. JANET LEE MILLER.

Janet Lee Miller was indicted for theft of lost or mislaid property. She filed a motion seeking to have the State provide her with the birth dates and social security numbers of its witnesses so that she could obtain their criminal records, if any. On October 26, 2017, over the State’s objection, the trial court issued an order granting Miller’s motion. That same day, the State obtained a certificate of immediate review, and thereafter filed an application for discretionary appeal. This Court granted that application to appeal on November 22, 2017, and the State timely filed a notice of appeal. It now appears, however, that the application was improvidently granted. The ability of the State to appeal in a criminal case is governed by two statutes, OCGA §§ 5-7-1 and 5-7-2. See State v. Outen, 289 Ga. 579, 580 (714 SE2d 581) (2011). “In OCGA § 5-7-1 (a), the General Assembly has set forth only a limited right of appeal for the State in criminal cases.” Id. (punctuation omitted). “If the State attempts an appeal outside the ambit of OCGA § 5-7-1 (a), the appellate courts do not have jurisdiction to entertain it.” Id.; accord State v. Evans, 282 Ga. 63, 64 (646 SE2d 77) (2007). We are constrained to find that the discovery order at issue does not fall within the ambit of OCGA § 5-7-1 (a). Nor does the certificate of immediate review save the State’s appeal. OCGA § 5-7-2 (a) requires the State to obtain a certificate of immediate review “where the order, decision, or judgment is not final[.]” That statute sets forth the procedure the State must follow to obtain review of specified rulings, but only OCGA § 5-7-1 (a) declares in what instances the State may appeal. See Outen, 289 Ga. at 581. For these reasons, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 02/22/2018 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.