O'Kelley v. State

Ross v. State, 254 Ga. 22 1985, is overruled to the extent it held that an initial appearance hearing is not a formal legal proceeding wherein the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches.

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This Court granted interim review in the pending death penalty prosecution of Dorian Frank O’Kelley and directed the parties to address the following question: Whether appellant’s indicating, at an initial appearance before a magistrate judge, his desire to have an attorney represent him renders his subsequent statement to an interrogator inadmissible at trial. For the reasons set forth below, we answer this question in the affirmative and, accordingly, reverse the judgment of the trial court refusing to suppress the statement in question. 1. On April 12, 2002, O’Kelley was arrested with a warrant on several of the charges now pending against him. He was interviewed twice that day; however, none of the statements he made in those first two interviews are in dispute. Later that same day, O’Kelley was taken before a magistrate judge in a jailhouse courtroom. No prosecutor or defense counsel was present, no testimony or evidence was presented, and O’Kelley was informed that he was not to enter a plea. When asked, O’Kelley indicated his desire for a court-appointed attorney. A form listing the allegations against O’Kelley which now included the murders, his desire for court-appointed counsel, the fact that bail could only be set by a superior court judge, and the magistrate’s setting of a hearing for two days later was then signed by the magistrate, by O’Kelley, and by a detective who was present at the proceeding.

On April 14, 2002, two detectives, including the detective who had been present at the proceeding before the magistrate judge, initiated further questioning of O’Kelley. O’Kelley argues that the statement made during this final interrogation should be suppressed because it was received in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to the assistance of counsel in criminal proceedings and in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to have counsel present during interrogation.

O'Kelley v. State

Ross v. State, 254 Ga. 22 1985, is overruled to the extent it held that an initial appearance hearing is not a formal legal proceeding wherein the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches.

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