Rocha v. State

In Rocha v. State, 234 Ga. App. 48 (506 S.E.2d 192) (1998), the Court considered the effect of a pending appeal of the grant of a motion to transfer a juvenile court case to superior court on an indictment issued during such pendency. In Rocha, the defendant was indicted by the grand jury, but not tried, while his appeal of the transfer ruling was pending. The defendant argued that, due to the pending appeal, the superior court had no jurisdiction to enter the indictment. The Court rejected the defendant's argument in that case, based on the statutory mandate that "no final judgments of a juvenile court judge, which would include a motion to transfer, shall be superseded except in the discretion of the judge; rather, the judgment or order of the court shall stand until reversed or modified by the reviewing court." O.C.G.A. 15-11-64. The Court, therefore, held "even though the transfer order was on appeal at the time the defendant was indicted, it remained in effect at that time, and the proceedings which occurred in the superior court, pursuant to the transfer order which had not been superseded, . . . were valid." Rocha, supra at 50 (1).