Opinion
A24A1831
07-26-2024
SONYA FULLER v. THE STATE.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Sonya Fuller was sentenced to life without parole plus five years after she was convicted of felony murder and other crimes. The trial court denied her motion for new trial, and Fuller appeals. The State has moved to transfer this appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia, contending that jurisdiction lies in that Court. We agree. 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 felony murder, jurisdiction lies in the Supreme Court. See OCGA § 16-5-1 (e); Neal v. State, 290 Ga. 563, 572 (722 S.E.2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, C. J., concurring); State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524, 524 (1) (322 S.E.2d 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 on other grounds as recognized in Elliott v. State, 305 Ga. 179, 205 (III) (C) (i) (824 S.E.2d 265) (2019). Thus, the motion to transfer is GRANTED and this appeal is TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court.