Dean v. State

We granted defendant’s discretionary appeal in part to address a question of first impression: whether an order terminating probation under which a defendant is “placed” by authority of the First Offender Act falls within the “[a]ppeals from orders revoking probation” language of OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (5), thereby requiring an application for appeal, or whether a direct appeal would lie. The subsection 5 category of cases was added by the legislature, along with other categories expanding the discretionary appeal route, in 1984.

In an appeal from a revocation of a probated sentence following a…