(a) There shall be an assistant to the Supreme Court who shall be an attorney appointed by the Chief Justice and who shall serve at the pleasure of the court. The court shall accumulate the records of all capital felony cases in which sentence was imposed after January 1, 1970, or such earlier date as the court may deem appropriate. The assistant shall provide the court with whatever extracted information it desires with respect thereto, including, but not limited to, a synopsis or brief of the facts in the record concerning the crime and the defendant.

(b) The court shall be authorized to employ an appropriate staff and such methods to compile such data as are deemed by the Chief Justice to be appropriate and relevant to the statutory questions concerning the validity of the sentence reviewed in accordance with Code Section 17-10-35.

(c) The office of the assistant shall be attached for administrative purposes to the office of the clerk of the Supreme Court of Georgia.