State v. Redd

• Decision Date: 28 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. A00A1059.,A00A1059.
• Parties: The STATE v. REDD.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

546 S.E.2d 68

248 Ga. App. 312

The STATE v. REDD.

No. A00A1059.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

February 28, 2001.

Robert B. Ellis, Jr., District Attorney, Timothy L. Eidson, Ellen S. Golden, Assistant District Attorneys, for appellant. Charles R. Reddick, Homerville, for appellee.

Kermit N. McManus, District Attorney, Kenneth B. Hodges III, District Attorney, J. David Miller, District Attorney, Keith C. Martin, Solicitor, Leslie C. Abernathy, Solicitor, Carmen Smith, Solicitor, Sheryl B. Jolly, Solicitor, Wensley Hobby, Solicitor, amici curiae.

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

On December 17, 1999, we granted interlocutory review to the State, which appealed from the trial court's denial of its motion to disqualify attorney Charles Reddick from the representation of criminal defendants—including appellee Mark Allen Redd—because Charles Reddick is a district attorney pro tempore.¹ The State claimed that the trial court's order conflicted with OCGA §§ 15-18-10(d) and 15-18-21(a), as well as with ethical proscriptions against dual representation which result in a per se conflict of interest. Based on the State's position, the trial court's order would arguably have been void under the laws of this State because the court's order permitted Redd to be represented in a criminal matter by an attorney disqualified per se from the private practice of criminal law.

We affirmed the trial court, and the State filed for certiorari on the merits. On January 5, 2001, the Supreme Court of Georgia granted certiorari and, on the same day, executed an order as follows: "Because the State is not authorized to appeal a trial court's denial of a motion to disqualify an attorney under OCGA § 5-7-1, we remand the case to the Court of Appeals with direction to vacate its judgment and dismiss the appeal."² Accordingly, we vacate our opinion in State v. Redd, 243 Ga.App. 809, 534 S.E.2d 473 (2000), and dismiss the State's appeal.

Opinion vacated and appeal dismissed.

BLACKBURN, C.J., and BARNES, J., concur.

1.State v. Redd, 243 Ga.App. 809, 534 S.E.2d 473 (2000). Reddick was appointed by the Chief Judge of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit solely to investigate alleged wrongdoing on the part of the Alapaha District Attorney's Office.

2. It is well established that an appellate court applies the law as it exists at the time its decision is rendered. Elmore v. State, 269 Ga. 528, 530(4), 501 S.E.2d 215 (1998). At the time the Supreme Court rendered its above-referenced decision/order, OCGA § 5-7-1 had been amended to add a new subsection (a)(5) which in pertinent part says that the State has a right to appeal "[f]rom an order, decision, or judgment of a court where the ... order is otherwise void under the Constitution or laws of this state." See Ga. L. 2000, p. 862, § 2. This amended statute conferring...