Title: Rhyne v. State
Citation: 264 Ga. 176
Docket Number: S94A0524
State: Georgia
Issuer: Georgia Supreme Court
Date: May 9, 1994

264 Ga. 176 (1994) RHYNE v. THE STATE. S94A0524. Supreme Court of Georgia. Decided May 9, 1994. Donaldson, Hall, Martin, Garvey &amp; Bell, George P. Donaldson III, J. Ripley Bell, Jr., for appellant. Britt R. Priddy, District Attorney, Johnnie M. Graham, Assistant District Attorney, Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General, for appellee. CARLEY, Justice. In appellant's non-capital murder trial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. Thereafter, the State reindicted appellant and secured a nolle prosequi of the original indictment. Appellant then filed a plea of double jeopardy and motion to dismiss the new indictment. When appellant's plea and motion were denied, he appealed directly to the Court of Appeals. See Patterson v. State, 248 Ga. 875 (287 SE2d 7) (1982). Notwithstanding this court's decision in State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524 (1) (322 SE2d 711) (1984), appellant's direct appeal was not *177 transferred to this court, and the Court of Appeals, on the merits, affirmed the trial court's denial of the plea and motion. Rhyne v. State, 209 Ga. App. 548, 552 (2) (434 SE2d 76) (1993). Appellant's application to this court for a writ of certiorari to review the holding of the Court of Appeals in Rhyne was denied. Appellant then filed in the trial court a "renewed" plea of double jeopardy and motion to dismiss the new indictment, which were denied. Pursuant to the authority of Patterson and Thornton, appellant now brings a direct appeal to this court from the denial of his "renewed" plea and motion. Although the Court of Appeals may not have followed the holding of Thornton when it failed to transfer appellant's former appeal to this court, the Court of Appeals was not without jurisdiction under our constitution to consider the merits thereof. (Emphasis in original.) State v. Thornton, supra at 524 (1). Since the Court of Appeals did not lack jurisdiction to consider the merits of appellant's former appeal and since this court denied appellant's application for a writ of certiorari to review the holding of the Court of Appeals in that former appeal, it follows that appellant's instant appeal from the denial of his "renewed" plea and motion must be affirmed. The decision of the Court of Appeals in Rhyne Cross v. State, 233 Ga. 960, 961 (214 SE2d 374) (1975). Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.