Rufus Charles Witherspoon v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ March 05, 2018

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A18D0317. RUFUS CHARLES WITHERSPOON v. THE STATE.

In 1990, Rufus Charles Witherspoon was convicted of felony murder and other crimes and sentenced to life in prison. The Supreme Court affirmed his convictions on direct appeal. See Witherspoon v. State, 262 Ga. 2 (412 SE2d 829) (1992). In 2017, Witherspoon filed two pro se motions in arrest of judgment, which the trial court denied on December 22, 2017. On February 1, 2018, Witherspoon filed the instant application for discretionary review of the denial.1 We lack jurisdiction. Under our Constitution, 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 can 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 SE2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, C. J., concurring); see also State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524, 524 (1) (322 SE2d 711) (1984) (directing this Court to transfer “all cases in which either a sentence of death or of life imprisonment has been imposed upon conviction of murder”).

1 Witherspoon also filed a direct appeal of the denial to this Court, which we transferred to the Supreme Court. See Case No. A18A1161 (transferred Feb. 12, 2018).

Accordingly, this application is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 03/05/2018 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.