Thomas L. Pyburn v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ December 16, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A15A2341. THOMAS L. PYBURN v. THE STATE.

Thomas Pyburn was convicted of incest and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. We affirmed his conviction on direct appeal. Pyburn v. State, 301 Ga. App. 372 (687 SE2d 909) (2009). In February 2014, Pyburn filed an application for out-of-time review by the Sentence Review Panel, which the trial court denied. Pyburn then filed this direct appeal.1 An appeal is subject to dismissal where the questions presented on appeal are moot. See OCGA § 5-6-48 (b) (3). “An issue is moot when a determination is sought on a matter which, when rendered, cannot have any practical effect on the existing controversy.” Hughes v. Ga. Dept. of Corrections, 267 Ga. App. 440, 443 (2) (600 SE2d 383) (2004) (punctuation omitted). The Sentence Review Panel, which no longer exists, stopped accepting applications for review in 2007. See OCGA § 17-10- 6.3 (e); McClendon v. State, 318 Ga. App. 676, 677-678 (1) & n.2 (734 SE2d 505) (2012). Consequently, appellate review of the trial court’s refusal to send Pyburn’s case to the Sentence Review Panel can have no practical effect in this case. This appeal therefore is DISMISSED as moot.

1 We initially transferred this case to the Supreme Court, along with an appeal Pyburn filed from the denial of his request for mandamus relief in the same underlying action. In a single order, the Supreme Court dismissed Pyburn’s appeal from the denial of mandamus relief and transferred this case back to this Court. See Case Nos. S16A0187, S16A0188 (Nov. 2, 2015).

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 12/16/2015 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.