Hill v. State, 309 Ga.App. 531
May 06, 2011OUTCOME: Conviction reversed, Remanded to Juvenile Court
This was a case of first-impression in Georgia on a relatively new statute. My client's Juvenile Court case was transferred to Superior Court. The State failed to indict him within 180 days of his ... detention as required by OCGA 17-7-50.1. My motion to transfer back to Juvenile Court was denied. Under my reading of the statute, the Superior Court lacked jurisdiction to handle my client's case. We therefore devised a strategy whereby he entered a plea to the charges and immediately appealed the court's lack of jurisdiction. After putting the strategy into motion, I turned the appeal over to Stephen Reba at the Barton Child Law & Policy Center who spearheaded the appeal which was successful on the exact grounds I argued in my motion to transfer back to Juvenile Court.
