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2018 Georgia Code 15-12-4 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 15-12-4 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 15-12-4

TITLE 15 COURTS

Section 12. Juries, 15-12-1 through 15-12-172.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

15-12-4. Eligibility of person to serve as a trial or grand juror.

  1. Any person who has served as a trial or grand juror at any session of the superior or state courts shall be ineligible for duty as a juror until the next succeeding county master jury list has been received by the clerk.
  2. In addition to any other qualifications provided under this chapter, no person shall be qualified to serve as a juror under this chapter unless that person is a citizen of the United States.

(Ga. L. 1903, p. 83, §§ 1, 2; Penal Code 1910, §§ 824, 825; Ga. L. 1911, p. 72, § 1; Code 1933, §§ 59-114, 59-115; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 3-15; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 15; Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-7/HB 415; Ga. L. 2014, p. 451, § 5/HB 776; Ga. L. 2014, p. 862, § 4/HB 1078.)

The 2014 amendments. The first 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, substituted "juror until the next succeeding county master jury list has been received by the clerk" for "juror at the next succeeding term of the court in which such person has previously served but shall be eligible to serve at the next succeeding term of court for a different level of court" at the end of subsection (a). The second 2014 amendment, effective April 29, 2014, in subsection (a), inserted "trial or grand" near the beginning, and made an identical change as the first amendment.

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-1/HB 415, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Jury Composition Reform Act of 2011.'"

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Failure to object waives error in not questioning juror.

- Since the trial court failed to ask the first juror whether that juror had served as a member of the grand jury or traverse jury during the previous term, any error was waived by the defendant's failure to object at the time. Whittington v. State, 252 Ga. 168, 313 S.E.2d 73 (1984).

Plea in abatement filed before arraignment of defendant sustained if section is violated. Tompkins v. State, 138 Ga. 465, 75 S.E. 594 (1912); Long v. State, 160 Ga. 291, 127 S.E. 842 (1925).

Disqualification is disqualification propter defectum.

- Disqualification or ineligibility of a grand juror or grand jurors to serve as such at one term because the juror served as a member or members of the grand jury at the immediate preceding term of the court is a disqualification propter defectum, and if possible, the question of the ineligibility of the juror or the jurors to serve must be made before the juror or jurors act and return the true bill. Hawkins v. State, 86 Ga. App. 872, 72 S.E.2d 778 (1952).

Fact that juror served at preceding term not ground for new trial.

- Fact that one of the jurors who tried the case had, unknown to the defendant or the defendant's counsel, served as a traverse juror at the next preceding term of the superior court, while a good ground for challenge, is not ground for a new trial. Seaboard Air Line Ry. v. Benton, 43 Ga. App. 495, 159 S.E. 717 (1931), rev'd on other grounds, 175 Ga. 491, 165 S.E. 593 (1932).

Local act fixing terms and providing for grand juries in superior courts is general law and as such can change or modify this section. Long v. State, 34 Ga. App. 125, 128 S.E. 784 (1925); Brown v. State, 242 Ga. 602, 250 S.E.2d 491 (1978).

Cited in Wall v. State, 126 Ga. 86, 54 S.E. 815 (1906); Staten v. State, 141 Ga. 82, 80 S.E. 850 (1913); Johns v. State, 180 Ga. 187, 178 S.E. 707 (1935); Hawkins v. State, 86 Ga. App. 872, 72 S.E.2d 778 (1952); Lundy v. State, 119 Ga. App. 585, 168 S.E.2d 199 (1969); Jones v. State, 137 Ga. App. 612, 224 S.E.2d 473 (1976).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 47 Am. Jur. 2d, Jury, §§ 161, 163.

C.J.S.

- 50A C.J.S., Juries, § 300.

ALR.

- Service on jury in prosecution for selling intoxicating liquor as disqualification as juror in similar case, 3 A.L.R. 1206.

Prior service on grand jury which considered indictment against accused as disqualification for service on petit jury, 24 A.L.R.3d 1236.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 15-12-4

Total Results: 4  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Walker v. State, 327 S.E.2d 475 (Ga. 1985).

Cited 73 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 14, 1985 | 254 Ga. 149

...We find no error in the court's refusal to excuse a potential juror who was the wife of one of the members of the grand jury which returned the original indictment in this case. [5] This potential juror was not ineligible for trial jury duty, see OCGA § 15-12-4, nor was she otherwise disqualified for "principal cause." Jordan v....
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Whittington v. State, 313 S.E.2d 73 (Ga. 1984).

Cited 43 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 6, 1984 | 252 Ga. 168

...No case requiring such individual voir dire as a matter of constitutional law has been cited, and OCGA § 15-12-133 (Code Ann. § 59-705) contemplates that such questions may be addressed en masse. Therefore this enumeration of error is without merit. 2. OCGA § 15-12-4 (Code Ann....
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State v. Towns, 307 Ga. 351 (Ga. 2019).

Cited 3 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 21, 2019

...The clerk shall choose the names of persons to serve as trial jurors for the trial of civil and criminal cases in the court. Such trial jurors shall be summoned in the same manner as provided in Code Section 15- 12-65.1.”); OCGA § 15-12-65.1 (authorizing mailing of juror summons). 21 See OCGA §§ 15-12-4, 15-12-60, and 15-12-70 concerning the eligibility and qualifications of grand jurors and the impact of ineligibility. 22 statutes for selecting grand jurors similarly do not require that they be...

Taylor v. State (Ga. 2025).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 18, 2025