Opinion
A22A1310
04-29-2022
CARLTON SMITH v. CHRISTOPHER CARR et al.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
In 1993, Carlton Smith was convicted of aggravated sodomy, robbery, and other crimes, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 20 years. In 2018, Smith filed his sixth petition for habeas corpus seeking to challenge his 1993 convictions. The trial court dismissed the petition as untimely and successive.Thereafter, Smith filed a petition for mandamus against Christopher Carr and Judge John Turner, alleging that they denied him due process in his state habeas proceedings. Carr and Turner filed a motion to dismiss the mandamus petition, which the trial court granted. Smith then filed this direct appeal. Carr and Turner filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for failing to follow the discretionary appeal procedures.
The Supreme Court of Georgia also denied his application for certificate of probable cause to appeal the denial of habeas corpus. Case No. S20H0794 (decided June 29, 2020).
Although judgments and orders granting or refusing to grant mandamus are generally directly appealable under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (7), under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, any appeal in a civil case that was initiated by a prisoner must come by discretionary application. See OCGA § 42-12-8; Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489, 490 (480 S.E.2d 24) (1997). Because Smith is incarcerated, he was required to file an application for discretionary appeal in order to appeal the civil mandamus ruling. See Brock v. Hardman, 303 Ga. 729, 731 (2) (814 S.E.2d 736) (2018). For this reason, we lack jurisdiction over this direct appeal.
Accordingly, Carr and Turner's motion to dismiss is GRANTED, and this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.