Criminal defense issues in the Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly meets again this month in Atlanta. It should be an interesting session. We are watching a number of bills introduced in this session that concern criminal cases in Georgia.
The big bill is the new sex offender bill. This bill was rushed out of the House Judiciary (Non-Civil) Committee, and it is almost guaranteed to pass. (The story is in the Macon Georgia Telegraph.) Unfortunately, there seems to be no real debate over the effectiveness of the proposed statute. Many criminal defense lawyers, and even several Georgia sheriffs, oppose the legislation as written because it does very little to protect children.
Another piece of legislation we have been watching is the eyewitness identification bill. The study committee prepared an excellent report recommending some changes in the way eyewitness identifications are conducted by law enforcement. We expect the legislation to get passed this session. With the recent exonerations in Georgia of people falsely convicted of serious crimes based on faulty identifications, there is a lot of support for this bill.
There are other criminal justice bills that will likely be considered this session. One bill would clarify the rules on expungement of criminal convictions and arrests, and several others deal with the treatment of mentally disabled defendants.
You can follow the progress of these bills and other legislation on the Georgia General Assembly's website. We'll try to provide updates when we get them.
