It's time to reexamine the Supreme Court of Georgia's automatic jurisdiction over noncapital murder cases, according to at least one member of the high court.

In a 20-page concurrence to a court opinion upholding the murder conviction of a Cherokee County man, Justice Charles Bethel questioned the high court's jurisdiction "over every direct appeal arising from a case in which a defendant has been convicted of murder, regardless of whether a death sentence was imposed or ever sought in the first place."