Opinion
A23I0165
03-17-2023
THE STATE v. MARQUEZ WILSON
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
The Georgia Public Defender Council (GPDC) filed this application for interlocutory appeal, seeking review of the trial court's order directing it to provide ancillary defense services to indigent defendant Marquez Wilson. We, however, lack jurisdiction.
It is well established that 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). This jurisdiction includes all murder cases, regardless of whether the State is seeking the death penalty or life imprisonment. See 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 pre-conviction appeals in murder cases"), 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). See also WALB-TV v. Gibson, 269 Ga. 564, n. 2 (501 S.E.2d 821) (1998) (where an appeal is taken from an order "entered in the context of a murder prosecution," jurisdiction of the appeal lies in the Supreme Court).
In its application, GPDC indicated that jurisdiction was proper in this Court, but GPDC failed to clarify the offense with which Wilson has been charged. Because it is incumbent upon this Court to inquire into its own jurisdiction, Williams v. State, 287 Ga. 192, 192 (695 S.E.2d 244) (2010), we contacted the lower court clerk to determine the nature of the charges. The lower court clerk forwarded Wilson's indictment, which shows that Wilson is charged with four counts of felony murder. Under these circumstances, jurisdiction lies in the Supreme Court. Langlands v. State, 280 Ga. 799, 799 (1) (633 S.E.2d 537) (2006).
Accordingly, this application is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.