Court Opinion

ID: 9855630
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:28:31.172887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:36:16.683450
License: Public Domain

Benham, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
While I agree completely with the holdings in the first and second divisions of the majority opinion and with the reversal of the trial court’s dismissal of Bruce’s habeas corpus petition, I cannot join in the inappropriate discussion of and decision on the merits of Bruce’s claim. Accordingly, I concur in the judgment of reversal and dissent to the portion of the judgment of this Court directing the trial court to deny Bruce’s petition on its merits.
“This Court and the Court of Appeals are courts of review. [Cits.] As appellate courts, we are courts for the correction of errors of law made by the trial courts. [Cit.] . . . An error of law has as its basis a specific ruling made by the trial court.” Felix v. State, 271 Ga. 534, 539 (523 SE2d 1) (1999). “Issues which have not been ruled on by the trial court may not be raised on appeal.” Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources v. Coweta County, 261 Ga. 484 (405 SE2d 470) (1991). The review of judgments denying habeas corpus relief is not an exception to our role as an appellate court. The superior court to which Bruce submitted his petition for a writ of habeas corpus did not rule on the merits of his petition because it determined that the petition should be dismissed. That decision was erroneous, but the remedy for that error is not for this Court to bypass the role of the lower court and decide the case on its merits, but to remand the case to the lower court with direction to address the merits of the petition.
Because I believe that this Court should not take over the role of the habeas corpus court for the sake of convenience, I dissent to that part of the majority opinion which addresses the merits of Bruce’s claim and directs that his petition be denied on its merits.
I am authorized to state that Justice Hunstein and Justice Thompson join in this opinion.