Conspiracy Charges in Georgia

Under O.C.G.A. § 16-4-8, a person commits conspiracy when he or she “together with one or more persons conspires to commit any crime and any one or more of such persons does any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy.” The sentence cap is half the target felony’s maximum, or one to ten years if it carries death or life; drug conspiracies have their own statute.

The two elements

1. An agreement to commit a crime. The statute says “conspires” and does not require a written or spoken plan. The Supreme Court of Georgia has noted that “the existence of a conspiracy can be shown by circumstantial evidence” (Everritt v. State, 277 Ga. 457 (2003)).
2. An overt act by any member. The text requires that “any one or more of such persons” do an overt act “to effect the object of the conspiracy.” It does not require the act to be done by the person charged, and it does not say the act must itself be a crime.

The penalty under § 16-4-8

Target crime	Conspiracy sentence
A felony	one year up to one-half the maximum prison term for the target crime, one-half the maximum fine, or both
A crime punishable by death or life imprisonment	one to ten years
A misdemeanor	punished as a misdemeanor

Drug conspiracies are different: § 16-13-33

For conspiracy or attempt to commit an offense under Georgia’s Controlled Substances Act, § 16-13-33 provides “imprisonment not exceeding the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense,” the full maximum rather than half. That statute, and the Supreme Court of Georgia’s reading of it, are covered in drug conspiracy and Pinkerton liability in Georgia.

Conspiracy and the completed crime

Under § 16-4-8.1, a person can be convicted of conspiracy “even if the crime which was the objective of the conspiracy was actually committed or completed in pursuance of the conspiracy,” but “may not be convicted of both conspiracy to commit a crime and the completed crime.”

Withdrawal

Section 16-4-9 allows a coconspirator to escape conspiracy liability only “if he can show that before the overt act occurred he withdrew his agreement to commit a crime.” Once an overt act has occurred, the statute offers no withdrawal defense to the conspiracy charge.

Responsibility for what other conspirators do

Conspiracy also matters beyond the conspiracy count: a member can be held responsible for crimes other members commit, within a limit of reasonable foreseeability, as explained in co-conspirator liability under Georgia law. Racketeering has its own conspiracy provision, § 16-14-4(c), explained in the Georgia RICO statute and racketeering charges.

Sources

• O.C.G.A. § 16-4-8 (2023 Georgia Code); §§ 16-4-8.1 and 16-4-9 (2022 Georgia Code); § 16-13-33 (law.onecle.com mirror, page last modified October 14, 2016); no amendment to these sections listed in the Legislative Counsel summaries for 2017 through 2026.
• Everritt v. State, 277 Ga. 457 (2003) (circumstantial proof of a conspiracy).

General information about Georgia criminal law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.