Opinion
A22A1360
05-18-2022
JAMES LIVELY, JR. v. THE STATE.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
James Lively, Jr., was sentenced to death following his conviction for two counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, but the Supreme Court reversed and held that the case could be retried. Lively v. State, 262 Ga. 510 (421 S.E.2d 528) (1992). Lively subsequently pled guilty to the charged offenses and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994. Recently, Lively filed a motion in arrest of void judgment. The trial court dismissed the motion, and Lively filed a notice of appeal to this Court.
Under our Constitution, however, the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over "[a]ll cases in which a sentence of death was imposed or could be imposed." See Ga. Const of 1983, Art VI, Sec VI, Par III (8) Because a penalty of death can be imposed for the crime of murder, jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court See OCGA § 16-5-1 (e) (1); Neal v State, 290 Ga 563, 572 (722 S.E.2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, C.J., concurring); see also State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524, 524 (1) (322 S.E.2d 711) (1984) (directing this Court to transfer "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 S.E.2d 265) (2019). The Supreme Court's jurisdiction over murder cases includes appeals from orders resolving post-judgment motions in such cases. See Simpson v. State, 292 Ga. 764 (740 S.E.2d 124) (2013) (appeal from denial of a motion in arrest of judgment attacking murder convictions as void).
Accordingly, this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.