Raymond Bunn was indicted in Fulton County on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and violating his oath as a public officer by committing murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. These charges arose out of the shooting death of Corey Ward by Bunn, which occurred while Bunn was an Atlanta Police Department officer on patrol. After his indictment, Bunn filed a motion for immunity from prosecution under OCGA § 16-3-24.21 on the basis that he reasonably believed his actions in shooting Ward were necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily injury to himself or his partner2 pursuant to OCGA § 16-3-21 a.3 The original trial judge, stating that she could not “determine as a matter of law that Bunn was justified in killing” Ward, denied the motion. Bunn appealed this and other rulings to this Court. In Bunn v. State , 284 Ga. 410 3 667 SE2d 605 2008, we held that a defendant need only prove he is entitled to immunity under OCGA § 16-3-24.2 by a preponderance of the evidence. Because the wrong standard had been used, we remanded the case to the trial court to allow it to analyze Bunn’s motion under the preponderance of the evidence standard. Bunn v. State , supra. On remand, the case originally handled by Judge Lane was reassigned. The trial court subsequently entered an order in which it stated that, after reviewing the record, it adopted Judge Lane’s findings of fact and that, after applying the preponderance standard in Bunn v. State , supra, it found Bunn carried his burden of proof and granted his motion for immunity from prosecution. By so ruling, the trial court in effect dismissed the entire indictment. See State v. Yapo , 296 Ga. App. 158 1 674 SE2d 44 2009 grant of immunity from prosecution is in substance a dismissal of the pertinent counts of the indictment. The State appeals. See OCGA § 5-7-1 a 1; State v. Burks , 285 Ga. 781 684 SE2d 269 2009.
The State asserts that the trial court erred by granting Bunn’s immunity motion because justification was not shown by a preponderance of the evidence. The same record was before this Court in Bunn v. State , supra, in which we stated that the record shows that, on July 14, 2002, Bunn, a City of Atlanta police officer, was on routine patrol with his partner. Upon spotting an apparent vehicle break-in, the officers moved their vehicle so as to block one of the exits from the parking lot where the break-in was allegedly taking place. The alleged burglar jumped into a van, which began to move toward the officers, who were shouting for it to stop. The van continued toward the officers, and Bunn shot and killed the van’s driver, Corey Ward. Id., 284 Ga. at 410.4 The State does not deny that Bunn adduced evidence that supported the above sequence of events, which are also found in Judge Lane’s order. Based on these findings of fact, the trial court expressly found that Bunn
