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Benefield v. State of Ga.

A superior court judge lacked subject matter jurisdiction to determine the underlying constitutionality of the statute creating a 3-judge sentence review panel after the term of court in which the defendant was convicted and sentenced.

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The dispositive issue in this case is whether Appellant, Superior Court Judge Deborah C. Benefield, lacked subject matter jurisdiction to rule on the constitutionality of OCGA § 17-10-6, which creates the three-judge Sentence Review Panel Panel. That jurisdictional issue arises out of the criminal prosecution of Ted Griffin. A jury in Clayton County found him guilty of several offenses, including aggravated assault and false imprisonment. As the presiding trial judge, Judge Benefield imposed concurrent sentences of 20 and 10 years respectively, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Griffin v. State, 241 Ga. App. 783 527 SE2d 577 2000.

Griffin then sought sentence review. Initially, the Panel ordered him to serve only a 5-year concurrent term in prison for each offense, with the respective 15-year and 5-year balances to be served on probation. However, Judge Benefield wrote to the Panel and, citing Warren v. State, 204 Ga. App. 191 418 SE2d 783 1992, questioned its authority to allow Griffin to serve any portion of the sentences on probation. In response, the Panel entered a new order which simply reduced the sentence for each crime to a 5-year term of imprisonment.

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