Court Opinion

ID: 9578896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:49:32.054787+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:32.031303
License: Public Domain

Ingram, Justice,
concurring in the judgment.
I agree with the court’s decision in this case, but not with all that is said in the majority opinion.
This is an unusual case, and, so far as we have been able to determine, the issue presented has not been litigated previously in Georgia. In any event, no one has cited a Georgia case answering the question we must decide. While some questions of first impression are challenging and interesting, this particular one is troublesome.
I concur with the majority that the information sought by these judges can be required from the district attorney for the orderly and efficient operation of the court without offending the Constitution. The judges of the Augusta Circuit unanimously determined en banc that they needed a list of all cases pending in the district attorney’s office made since January 1, 1972, for the organization and functioning of the superior court in that circuit.
The clerk of the court has a duty to keep a trial docket of criminal cases, but the district attorney is actually the official in charge of prosecuting the cases. He should be able to furnish the judges with a list of the cases pending *268in his office to assist the judges in organizing their calendars and otherwise planning an orderly and sensible disposition of the court’s business. The judges have a statutory duty under Code Ann. § 27-1301 to decide whether the docketed criminal cases will be called for trial in numerical order or otherwise in the sound discretion of the court.
However, as I read the statutes, a case pending in superior court does not include warrants still under investigation by the district attorney which have not resulted in either an accusation or an indictment. The majority opinion interprets the present court order to include not only accusations and indictments but also warrants. I believe the judges have no right to require the district attorney to furnish to them information about matters under investigation by the district attorney which have not become "cases” in court.
In my view, the judges should hear from the district attorney on which criminal cases are emergency or jail cases and consider his recommendations before exercising the discretion they have over the criminal calendar because there may be factors known peculiarly to the district attorney which would merit the trial of some cases before others irrespective of the date they were entered on the docket by the clerk. But, it seems to me the discretion and responsibility which the judges have in making a trial calendar could be exercised far more wisely if they were given the information on pending cases which they seek from the district attorney. Therefore, I concur in the judgment of the court in this case.