Trammell v. State

William Trammell Jr. was convicted in Floyd County of possessing a small amount of marijuana and of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. His earlier felonies were criminal damage to property, theft by taking, and fleeing from police. He argued that Georgia's law permanently barring felons from having guns violates the Second Amendment as applied to someone with only non-violent offenses. The trial judge rejected that claim. On appeal, the Attorney General pointed out that Trammell never served notice of his constitutional challenge on that office, as Georgia law requires. The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed that the requirement applies even in criminal cases, so the trial court had no power to rule on the challenge. It set aside that part of the ruling and sent the case back without deciding the gun-rights question.

Georgia's notice law, OCGA § 9-4-7(c), requires a person challenging a statute's constitutionality to serve the Attorney General in any action, including a criminal prosecution. Without that notice, the trial court lacks jurisdiction to decide the constitutional question, and so does the Supreme Court of Georgia. The court did not address the Second Amendment claim itself.

Anyone in a Georgia criminal case who argues that a state law is unconstitutional must serve the Attorney General first, or the courts cannot rule on the argument. Defense lawyers must follow this step, and the state gains a guaranteed chance to defend its laws.

Order denying new trial vacated in part and case remanded

1. The Attorney General raised a question about subject-matter jurisdiction (a court's basic power to decide a case). The court explained that this kind of defect cannot be waived and can be raised at any time, even though it was not raised in the trial court.
2. Georgia's notice statute (OCGA § 9-4-7(c)) requires serving the Attorney General when a statute is alleged to be unconstitutional. The court has long treated compliance as mandatory, and failure to serve deprives the court of jurisdiction over the constitutional claim.
3. In 2022 the General Assembly amended the statute to reach challenges raised as part of any other action, not only declaratory judgment suits. Under the plain-meaning approach, a change in wording signals an intent to change the law's reach.
4. The court read the statute's definition of 'action' to include penal actions, meaning criminal prosecutions. Combined with the broad words 'any other,' a constitutional challenge raised in a criminal case falls within the notice requirement.
5. Because Trammell never served the Attorney General, the court could not reach his Second Amendment claim. It sent the case back so he could serve notice and the state could defend the statute before the trial court rules again.

• felon in possession of firearm
• Second Amendment
• Attorney General notice
• Floyd County
• constitutional challenge