Pointing a Gun at Someone in Georgia
Georgia law treats the act of pointing or aiming a gun at another person as a distinct criminal offense, separate from any charge that might arise if the…
A lexicon of Georgia criminal statutes
Georgia Criminal Law
The lexicon
150 entriesP
Possession vs. Distribution in Georgia Drug Cases
Georgia drug law draws one of its most consequential lines at the boundary between simple possession and distribution-level conduct. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-13-30, the same controlled substance can…
Possession with Intent to Distribute in Georgia
Possession with intent to distribute, often shortened to PWID, is a distinct charge under Georgia's controlled substances law, separate from simple possession. While the two offenses share the…
Post-Conviction Remedies in Georgia
A Georgia conviction is rarely the final word in a criminal case. State law provides a sequence of post-conviction remedies, each operating in a different forum, with its…
Pre-Accusation Delay in Georgia Criminal Cases
Pre-accusation delay refers to the period of time between the commission of an alleged offense and the filing of a formal charge, such as an indictment, an accusation,…
Prine Law Group: Criminal Defense in Macon and Middle Georgia
Prine Law Group is a criminal defense and trial practice firm based at 740 Mulberry Street in downtown Macon, Georgia. Founded in 2007 by Joseph R.…
Prior Bad Acts Under Rule 404(b) in Georgia
O.C.G.A. 24-4-404(b) governs when evidence of a person's other crimes, wrongs, or acts may be introduced in a Georgia criminal case. The provision became part of Georgia law…
Prior Convictions and Character Evidence in Georgia
O.C.G.A. § 24-6-609, effective since January 1, 2013, governs the use of a witness's prior criminal conviction to attack that witness's credibility at trial. The rule applies different…
Prior Sexual Conduct Evidence in Georgia
Georgia's rape shield statute, O.C.G.A. § 24-4-412, generally excludes evidence of a sexual assault complainant's past sexual behavior. But the exclusion is not absolute. The statute also defines…
Probation Conditions and Revocation in Georgia
Georgia law gives trial courts broad authority to suspend or probate a criminal sentence rather than require a defendant to serve the full term in confinement. That authority…
Probation vs. Parole in Georgia
Probation and parole are often mentioned together, and both involve supervision in the community rather than confinement in prison, but they are distinct legal mechanisms that arise from…
Prosecutorial Vindictiveness in Georgia
Prosecutorial vindictiveness is a due process doctrine that guards against a specific kind of government retaliation: increasing charges or seeking harsher penalties because a defendant exercised a constitutional…
Proximate Cause and Superseding Cause in Georgia Criminal Cases
Many Georgia criminal offenses require the prosecution to prove not just that a defendant acted, but that the defendant's act actually caused a specific prohibited result, such as…
Public Safety Exception to Miranda in Georgia
Miranda warnings are required before police question a suspect who is in custody, but a narrow exception allows officers to ask certain questions first when an immediate threat…
R
Rape and Statutory Rape in Georgia
Georgia law treats rape and statutory rape as distinct criminal offenses, each defined by its own statute, its own elements, and its own structure of defenses. While both…
Rape Shield Law in Georgia
Georgia's rape shield law sets a general rule of exclusion for a specific category of evidence: a complainant's prior sexual behavior. The statute reflects a policy judgment that…
Repeat DUI Penalties in Georgia
Georgia escalates DUI penalties with each subsequent conviction, and the escalation is governed by a specific lookback period defined in O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(c). Understanding how that lookback period…
Restoring Firearm Rights in Georgia
A felony conviction in Georgia carries an ongoing consequence beyond the original sentence: possessing a firearm afterward is, on its own, a separate felony offense. Restoring that right…
RICO and Street Gang Prosecution in Georgia
High-profile Georgia indictments often involve both gang allegations and RICO charges in the same case, which leads many readers to assume "gang charges" and "RICO charges" are the…
RICO Asset Forfeiture in Georgia
Georgia's racketeering statute does not stop at criminal prosecution of individuals; it also authorizes the state to pursue the property connected to a pattern of racketeering activity through…
RICO Enterprise Definition in Georgia
Georgia's racketeering statute reaches a strikingly broad range of organizations because of how it defines the word "enterprise." Before any racketeering analysis can proceed, the State must establish…
Right to Counsel in Georgia Criminal Cases
The right to legal representation in a criminal case is a constitutional guarantee, not a privilege extended at a court's discretion. In Georgia, that guarantee operates on two…
S
Securities Fraud Prosecution in Georgia
Securities fraud in Georgia is prosecuted under a comprehensive state statutory framework that operates alongside, but separately from, federal securities enforcement. This framework governs how the state defines…
Selective Prosecution and Entrapment by Estoppel in Georgia
Two distinct constitutional doctrines limit how, not simply whether, a prosecutor may bring criminal charges. Selective prosecution addresses charging decisions infected by an impermissible motive at the outset.…
Self-Defense and Justification Under Georgia Law
Georgia's core self-defense statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-3-21, governs the circumstances under which a person may use force, including deadly force, to protect themselves from another person's unlawful actions.…