Deashanique Tiarria Copeland v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 24, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A20D0068. DEASHANIQUE TIARRIA COPELAND v. THE STATE.

Deashanique Copeland was convicted of possession of marijuana in the Municipal Court of LaGrange. Copeland filed this application for discretionary appeal to challenge her conviction. We lack jurisdiction. As a general rule, the judgment of a municipal court must be appealed – either directly or by certiorari – to the superior court.1 See OCGA § 5-4-3 (addressing petitions for writs of certiorari in the superior court); Reed v. State, 229 Ga. App. 817, 819-820 (b) (495 SE2d 313) (1997) (an appeal of a municipal court conviction lies in the superior court); accord Willard v. City of Eatonton, 104 Ga. App. 471, 471-472 (121 SE2d 924) (1961) (appeal from a superior court judgment overruling a petition for certiorari following a traffic offense conviction in the City of Eatonton Police Court). If the party is then aggrieved by the decision of the superior court, an application for discretionary appeal may be filed in this Court. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (1). Absent a superior court decision, we lack jurisdiction over this application for discretionary review, which is hereby DISMISSED.

1 A statutory exception exists for final judgments of the Municipal Court of Columbus, Muscogee County, which are directly appealable to this Court or the Supreme Court as if a judgment from a state or superior court. See Ga. L. 1983, pp. 4443, 4454, § 33 (c).

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 09/24/2019 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.