Beasley v. State
Decision Date | 27 January 2016 |
Docket Number | No. A15A1713.,A15A1713. |
Parties | BEASLEY v. The STATE. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Mary Katherine Durant, Loletha Denise Hale, for Appellant.
Peter J. Skandalakis, John Herbert Cranford Jr., for Appellee.
DOYLE
, Chief Judge.
In 2011, Robert C. Beasley was convicted of trafficking cocaine, and he appealed to this Court, enumerating various errors including a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence and a conflict of interest on the part of the trial judge.1 This Court ruled that it could not determine on the record whether the conflict of interest issue had been preserved for review, so the case was remanded for "the trial court to make findings of fact as to when Beasley and his counsel first learned of the grounds for disqualification" of the trial judge.2 On remand, the State consented to a new trial, which the trial court granted without making findings as to the conflict of interest issue, over Beasley's objection on double jeopardy grounds. Beasley now appeals from the order granting the new trial contending that (1) the trial court erred by declining to hold an evidentiary hearing on the alleged conflict of interest issue, (2) a new trial was an inappropriate remedy for the alleged conflict of interest, (3) double jeopardy bars a new trial, and (4) the evidence was insufficient to support the trial verdict. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
Beasley filed a brief in support of his motion for new trial on August 16, 2013. In the brief and at the [subsequent] hearing, Beasley argued that he was deprived of a fair trial due to a conflict of interest created by Judge Kirby's marriage to a member of the district attorney's office in the same judicial circuit. Beasley's counsel contended that neither she nor her client was aware of this relationship prior to trial and that both had learned of the conflict only afterward.8
Judge Hamrick denied Beasley's motion, giving rise to Beasley I. Because the record in that case did not reflect when Beasley learned of the grounds for disqualification of Judge Kirby,9 this Court ruled that it could not "discern whether [the disqualification issue had] been properly preserved for appellate review."10 Accordingly, the Court "vacate[d] the trial court's order denying Beasley's motion for new trial and remand[ed] this case to the trial court to make findings of fact as to when Beasley and his counsel first learned of the grounds for disqualification."11
On remand, the State consented to a retrial, and over Beasley's objection, the trial court ordered a retrial without reaching the disqualification issue. Beasley now appeals the order granting the new trial.
1. Beasley first argues that the trial court erred by ordering a new trial without holding an evidentiary hearing as this Court directed in Beasley I. Beasley correctly points out that the opinion in Beasley I specifically sought further findings as to Beasley's knowledge of the disqualification issue, and the trial court failed to make such findings. But the trial court's action did not undermine this Court's disposition; rather, the trial court sought to maximize judicial economy by moving forward with a new trial with the State's concession. Although this Court's "decision and direction shall be respected and carried into full effect in good faith by the court below,"12 the record before us does not demand reversal on this ground.
2. Beasley next argues that a new trial was not the correct remedy for a conflict of interest on the part of the trial judge. As support, he cites Pope v. State,13 which addressed a scenario in which a trial judge failed to adequately disclose his law clerk's future employment with the district attorney who tried the case. The Court in that case explained its analysis as follows:
Notably, the decision in Pope does not explicitly address what might happen after the conviction is reversed. Instead, it merely states that reversal may be required if the defendant timely raised a recusal issue.15 After a conviction is reversed based on a procedural error, as opposed to an evidentiary insufficiency, cases are routinely retried in new trials. For example, in Sallie v. State,16 when a defendant was convicted in a trial in which his attorney had an actual conflict of interest, the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial.17 Thus, contrary to Beasley's assertions, Pope does not stand for the proposition that a criminal defendant cannot be retried after his conviction is reversed based on a procedural error. Accordingly, this enumeration fails.
3. Beasley next argues that a new trial is barred on double jeopardy grounds.
Here, the error Beasley complained of, a conflict of interest on the part of the trial judge, did not implicate his guilt or innocence or the sufficiency of the evidence introduced by the State at trial. Thus, as Beasley concedes, if the State adduced sufficient evidence of his guilt to authorize his conviction in his first trial,20 double jeopardy concerns would...
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...S.E.2d at 634.227. Id. at 258, 779 S.E.2d at 637-38.228. Id. at 254-55, 779 S.E.2d at 635-36.229. Id. at 258, 779 S.E.2d at 637-38.230. 335 Ga. App. 530, 782 S.E.2d 315 (2016).231. Id. at 532-33, 782 S.E.2d at 318.232. Id. at 534-35, 782 S.E.2d at 319-20. 233. 335 Ga. App. 491, 780 S.E.2d 7......