Criminal Law

The Georgia Court of Appeals and Supreme Court produce a prodigious number of opinions in criminal cases every year. We reviewed 940 cases for this reporting period. We refrained from straying outside the reporting period, even though one recent case of significance tempted us greatly. Look for it in next year's review.

We are trial lawyers, so we organized this article in roughly the order in which issues may arise in the average case. If no opinions of note came out of the appellate courts in a given area of law, such as in the area of bonds and pretrial release, we simply did not include a section with that heading. Pretrial Issues Extrinsic Act Evidence: Similar Transactions Speedy Trial Death Penalty Challenges Guilty Plea Probation Revocation Jury Selection Opening Statements State's Case in Chief Defendant's Case in Chief Closing Arguments Jury Instructions and Deliberations Sentencing Appellate Review