Charlie Branner v. Clay Pate

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

November 08, 2021 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A22A0408. CHARLIE BRANNER v. CLAY PATE.

In November 2018, Charlie Branner entered a negotiated plea under North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U. S. 25 (91 SCt 160, 27 LE2d 162) (1970) to three counts of child molestation.1 On September 21, 2021, Branner filed the instant pro se mandamus petition seeking to compel the trial court to provide documentation regarding the impaneling of juries during the court’s September 2017 term and a transcript of the hearing on his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The mandamus petition was assigned a new civil case number. The trial court provided Branner with some information about the juries impaneled and denied the petition as moot, and Branner filed a pro se notice of appeal.

Although judgments and orders granting or refusing to grant mandamus are generally directly appealable under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (7), under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, any appeal in a civil case that was initiated by a prisoner must come by discretionary application. See OCGA § 42-12-8; Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489, 490 (480 SE2d 24) (1997). Because Branner is incarcerated, he was required to file an application for discretionary appeal in order to appeal the civil mandamus ruling. See Brock v. Hardman, 303 Ga. 729, 731 (2) (814 SE2d 736) (2018). For this reason, we lack jurisdiction over this direct appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________

11/08/2021 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.