Roberson v. the State, 335 Ga. App. 606

Necole “Nick” Roberson was convicted by a jury of misdemeanor family-violence simple battery for throwing boiling water at her son; sentenced to 12 months with portions suspended and probation.
Roberson pled not guilty, asserted indigence, and was represented at trial by a public defender.
Roberson filed a notice of appeal and an affidavit of poverty but did not include a trial transcript in the appellate record.
She moved in the trial court for a free trial transcript for appeal; the trial court doubted her indigence (citing testimony about her living in a "nice house"), held a hearing, and denied the motion for lack of proof of indigence.
Roberson argued the public defender’s determination of indigence should control under the Georgia Indigent Defense Act (IDA); she also appealed evidentiary exclusions regarding prior interactions and alleged prior violent acts by her son.
The Court of Appeals affirmed: it held the trial court’s indigence determination (and denial of free transcript) is final and not subject to review, and without a transcript Roberson could not meaningfully challenge the evidentiary rulings on appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial court erred by denying free trial transcript based on alleged indigence	Roberson: public defender’s finding of indigence under IDA should control and require transcript at county expense	State/Trial court: trial court may independently determine indigence for transcript obligations; public defender’s IDA determination does not automatically bind county obligation	Trial court’s factual determination on ability to pay is final and affirmed; IDA determination does not automatically require county to pay for transcript
Exclusion of evidence of prior difficulties between Roberson and her son	Roberson: prior difficulties were relevant and should have been admitted	State: evidence excluded as improper or irrelevant (trial rulings not fully detailed in record)	Affirmed — appellate review foreclosed because no trial transcript was provided to show error
Exclusion of evidence of son’s prior violent acts against third party	Roberson: prior violent acts were admissible to show son’s propensity or pattern	State: excluded under evidentiary rules (details not in appellate record)	Affirmed — inability to review because transcript absent; no meaningful substitute in record

Penland v. State, 256 Ga. 641 (trial court’s factual findings on indigence final)
Ga. Pub. Defender Standards Council v. State, 284 Ga. App. 660 (county obligation to pay for transcripts; transcript cost not an IDA defense cost)
Odum v. State, 283 Ga. App. 291 (IDA changed indigence determinations for appointment of counsel to public defender offices)
Breazeale v. State, 290 Ga. App. 632 (indigence determination lies within trial court discretion)
Mitchell v. State, 280 Ga. 802 (right to free transcript independent of whether defendant had retained counsel at trial)
Ford v. State, 306 Ga. App. 606 (absence of transcript forfeits meaningful appellate review of trial errors)