Court Opinion

ID: 9609800
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:31:36.975287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:52.552825
License: Public Domain

Ingram, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the first unnumbered division of the *749majority opinion holding that a review of the sufficiency of the evidence, heard in the original trial court, is not a proper function of a habeas corpus court. However, I cannot agree with the majority’s departure from the rationale of Thornton v. Ault, 233 Ga. 172 (210 SE2d 683). While it is true that in Thornton we were dealing with the duty of appointed counsel to advise his client of the right to appeal, it is made crystal clear in the opinion that a different standard would be applied in the case of retained counsel. "If the trial attorney was retained it must be known to the court or some other responsible state official that the defendant was indigent and that he desired to appeal. Beto v. Martin, 5 Cir., 1968, 396 F2d 432.” Thornton v. Ault, supra, p. 174. The focus of the inquiry under these circumstances is on what the defendant made known to the state, not on what the state made known to the defendant concerning appeal. See, also, Hopkins v. Hopper, 234 Ga. 236 (215 SE2d 241). This continues to be the view of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. See Daniels v. State of Alabama, 487 F2d 887 (5th Cir., 1973), and Collier v. Estelle, 488 F2d 929, 931 (5th Cir., 1974).
This court applies both state and federal law in habeas corpus cases. In my view, it promotes instability in the law for this court to take a more liberal view than the 5th Circuit on the federal aspects of this subject. Thornton v. Ault was decided by this court, with all Justices concurring, less than a year ago. The majority now disapprove the reasoning in that case without citing any controlling authority for doing so. I dissent as I find no persuasive basis for the majority’s opinion.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Justice Undercofler and Justice Hall concur in this dissent.