Opinion
A22A0107
09-14-2021
ALLEN DEWAYNE WILLIAMS v. THE STATE.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
A jury found Allen Dewayne Williams guilty of felony murder and other crimes, and the trial court sentenced Williams to life in prison. Williams filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. Williams then filed the instant appeal. The State has filed a motion to transfer the appeal to the Supreme Court.
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 felony murder, jurisdiction is proper in the Supreme Court See OCGA § 16-5-1 (c), (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 State's motion to transfer is GRANTED, and this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.