Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ February 20, 2018 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A18A1204. JEAN JOCELYN MERILIEN v. RICHARD R. READ et al.

Jean Jocelyn Merilien is currently serving a life sentence for the murders of his wife and mother-in-law. In October 2017, Merilien filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the Rockdale County District Attorney and Assistant District Attorney to (1) vacate his convictions and reset the matter for a new trial based on his assertion that his guilty plea was not freely and voluntarily given; (2) suppress certain evidence introduced at his previous trial; and (3) dismiss the indictments as void and defective. The trial court dismissed the petition with prejudice. Merilien then filed the instant direct appeal. It appears, however, that jurisdiction may be proper in the Supreme Court.

In State v. Murray, 286 Ga. 258 (687 SE2d 790) (2009), the Supreme Court held that “[i]f the underlying action is a murder case, [the Supreme] Court has jurisdiction of the appeal, regardless of whether the order being appealed is based on facts having some bearing on the underlying criminal trial.” Id. at 259 (1). See also Neal v. State, 290 Ga. 563, 572 (722 SE2d 765) (2012) (Hunstein, J., concurring); State v. Thornton, 253 Ga. 524, 524 (1) (322 SE2d 711) (1984) (directing this Court to transfer “all cases in which either a sentence of death or of life imprisonment has been imposed upon conviction of murder”).

Accordingly, this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 02/20/2018 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.