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Brownv.State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A22A1340
DecidedMarch 7, 2023
Reporter367 Ga. App. 114; 885 S.E.2d 87; 2023 Ga. App. LEXIS 119; 2023 WL 2393827
JudgesRICKMAN, Chief Judge. Miller, Presiding Judge, and Pipkin, Judge, concur.
Tags
CriminalGuilty PleaDouble JeopardyDismissal After PleaIssue PreservationAppellate ProcedureMisdemeanor Prosecution
Case Summary

Dwight Brown faced a misdemeanor reckless-conduct charge for allegedly firing from his vehicle toward another car. The trial court accepted his non-negotiated guilty plea, but the solicitor later learned Brown had already been indicted in superior court for aggravated assault and attempted felony based on the same events, and dismissed the misdemeanor case. Brown argued that jeopardy attached when the plea was accepted and OCGA § 17-8-3 barred dismissal without his consent. The Court of Appeals affirmed without reaching those merits. When asked about dismissal, counsel said only, “I can’t stop them”; that response did not specifically preserve Brown’s objection, and no statute authorized plain-error review of this post-plea dismissal. The court expressly did not treat counsel’s remark as consent and did not decide whether double jeopardy would bar prosecution under the separate indictment.

Opinion

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