Opinion
A22A1613
07-08-2022
JUSTIN MOORE v. THE STATE.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
In 2010, Justin Moore was convicted of felony murder and other crimes. Moore filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. The Supreme Court affirmed. See Moore v. State, 294 Ga. 450 (754 S.E.2d 333) (2014). Moore then filed the underlying extraordinary motion for new trial, which the trial court dismissed. Moore appealed to this Court. He next filed a motion to transfer this appeal to the Supreme Court, contending that the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the appeal. 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 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 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 S.E.2d 265) (2019). Accordingly, the motion to transfer is GRANTED and this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court.