O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 15-6-23 (2019)

Signing documents in any county in circuit

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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Any judge of the superior courts may sign any document connected with the official duties of his office in any county comprising a part of his circuit, including all writs, orders, judgments, and warrants required to be signed by the judge. The document may be signed by the judge in any county within his circuit in which he is present at the time the document is signed.

History

Ga. L. 1971, p. 363, § 1.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Application to hold court of inquiry and issue search warrants. - Judicial officer who was authorized to hold a court of inquiry under former Code 1933, § 27-401 (see now O.C.G.A. § 17-7-20) and to issue a search warrant under Ga. L. 1966, p. 567, § 14 (see now O.C.G.A. § 17-5-20) would, under Ga. L. 1971, p. 363, § 1 (see now O.C.G.A. § 15-6-23), be authorized to do so in any county of the officer’s circuit. Allison v. State, 129 Ga. App. 364, 199 S.E.2d 587 (1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1145, 94 S. Ct. 899, 39 L. Ed. 2d 101 (1974).

Municipal judge’s cross-county reach. - Authority of a municipal court judge to issue a search warrant does not stop at the county line where the municipality crosses that line into another county. Campbell v. State, 207 Ga. App. 366, 428 S.E.2d 111 (1993). Cited in Granese v. State, 232 Ga. 193, 206 S.E.2d 26 (1974); Barksdale v. Ricketts, 233 Ga. 60, 209 S.E.2d 631 (1974); State v. Varner, 248 Ga. 347, 283 S.E.2d 268 (1981); Luangkhot v. State, 292 Ga. 423, 736 S.E.2d 397 (2013).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL In order for a search warrant or arrest warrant to be valid, the search warrant must be signed by a magistrate who is authorized to hold a court of in-

quiry under O.C.G.A. § 17-7-20 and who is physically present in the county in which he or she serves. 2000 Op. Atty. Gen. No. U2000-11.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1993–2013 · leading case: State v. Lejeune, 594 S.E.2d 637 (Ga. 2004).

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State v. Lejeune, 594 S.E.2d 637 (Ga. 2004). · cites it 4× “2d 587 (1973) (superior court judge authorized to issue a search warrant for any county in his judicial circuit); OCGA § 15-6-23. See Allison, supra; OCGA § 15-6-23.”

Luangkhot v. State, 736 S.E.2d 397 (Ga. 2013). · cites it 2× “749, 752 (1) ( 594 SE2d 637 ) (2004); see also OCGA § 15-6-23 (superior court judge may sign warrants and other official documents “in any county comprising a part of his circuit”).”

Murray v. State, 705 S.E.2d 726 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “The Supreme Court of Georgia has held that OCGA § 15-6-23 “is sufficiently broad to authorize a superior court judge to accept a guilty plea and enter sentence in any county within his circuit.”

Campbell v. State, 428 S.E.2d 111 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 4× “However, Pruitt was legislatively disapproved and overruled by OCGA § 15-6-23. See Allison v. State, 129 Ga.”

Brett v. Jefferson Cnty., Ga., 925 F. Supp. 786 (S.D. Ga. 1996). · cites it 2× “O.C.G.A. § 15-6-23. The only process by which this discretion may be limited is through compliance with § 36-l-21(b).”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.