Jessica Binkerd, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, probably never imagined that pictures taken from her MySpace website would one day help send her to jail. Regrettably, that is exactly what happened. On August 6, 2006, Binkerd was driving her co-worker, twenty-five-year-old Alex Baer, home from a
Since September 11, 2001, several hundred individuals have been convicted of terrorism related charges. Of these convictions, over 80% resulted from a plea of guilty. It is surprising and counterintuitive that such a large percentage of these cases are resolved in this manner, yet, even when prosecuting suspected terrorists caught
The purpose of this Act is to revise Georgia sex offender laws to promote the isolation of dangerous sexual predators from the public and ensure that they are adequately monitored in a manner that is constitutional. The key focus of the Act is to ensure the law properly directs resources
The Act provides for crime victims’ rights in Georgia and creates substantive mechanisms for directing agencies to carry out these victim’s rights. These include the right to be present and heard in the sentencing phase of a criminal proceeding against the accused, including proceedings in juvenile court. The Act
The purpose of this bill would have been to revise Georgia sex offender laws to promote the isolation of dangerous sexual predators from the public and ensure that they are adequately monitored in a manner that is constitutional. The key focus of the bill would have been to ensure the
The bill would have removed the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council’s authority over the public defender system and changed it to an advisory body only. The public defender system itself would have changed from an independent entity to a state agency named the Georgia Public Defender Agency.
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The Act requires the Department of Corrections to administer an HIV test to prison inmates within thirty days before their release from prison if they were incarcerated for at least one year. Inmates must be notified of the results of the HIV test in writing, and information pertaining to positive
The Act provides for the imposition of life without parole for persons convicted of murder independent of a death penalty prosecution. The Act provides that the sentence of life without parole may be imposed without the necessity of the trier of fact making a recommendation of such sentence or finding
The Act provides the defense and the prosecution with an equal number of peremptory strikes in criminal trials. The Act establishes the number of peremptory challenges at three strikes for misdemeanors, nine strikes for felonies, and fifteen strikes for cases seeking the death penalty. The Act gives the prosecuting attorney
The Georgia Indigent Defense Act creates a state-wide public defender system overseen by the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. The Council will establish guidelines to ensure consistent and quality legal representation of all indigent defendants. The Act addresses qualification and training, caseload size, performance and compensation standards, as well as
The Act changes the provisions related to sexual offender registration requirements that apply to certain sex offenders, including making registration requirements applicable to persons sentenced pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 42, relating to first offenders; making registration requirements applicable to persons who plead nolo contendre to
