Court Opinion

ID: 9578624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:46:53.284489+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:59.217921
License: Public Domain

Birdsong, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
Pretermitting the issue of a juvenile court’s authority to grant a new trial is the question of this court’s jurisdiction to dispose of the matter by attempting to construe the provisions of Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. I, Par. IV, as a matter of constitutional first impression. Such a determination perforce includes consideration as to the meaning and scope of the cited provision. For example, does this constitutional provision recognize an inherent power of any court of record, including juvenile courts, to grant a new trial on legal grounds or otherwise vest such a power as a matter of constitutional right, or, conversely, does this constitutional provision merely recognize the discretionary power of the legislature to provide expressly by statute which courts of record may exercise such a power? “This court has no jurisdiction to resolve such an issue.” Kolker v. State, 193 Ga. App. 306, 307 (1) (387 SE2d 597), aff’d Kolker v. State, 260 Ga. 240 (391 SE2d 391); see Duncan v. State, 206 Ga. App. 407 (1) (425 SE2d 307). I concur with the majority that this case must be transferred to the Supreme Court. Id.; Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II (1).