O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 15-7-42 (2019)

Prosecution for misdemeanors; trials on merits conducted in open court; proceedings allowed in chambers

✓ 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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(a) The prosecution of misdemeanors may proceed by accusation as provided in Code Section 17-7-71, citation or citation and arrest as provided for by law, or summons. (b) All trials on the merits shall be conducted in open court and, so far as convenient, in a regular courtroom. (c) All other proceedings, hearings, and acts not included in subsection (b) of this Code section may be done or conducted by a judge in chambers and in the absence of the clerk or other court officials. The

judge of the court may hear motions and enter interlocutory orders, in all cases pending in the court over which he or she presides, in open court or in chambers.

History

Code 1981, § 15-7-42, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 1419, § 2; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 15; Ga. L. 2018, p. 550, § 2-2/SB 407. The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, added subsection (a); designated the existing provisions as subsections (b) and (c); and, in subsection (c), inserted

‘‘not included in subsection (b) of this Code section’’ in the middle of the first sentence and inserted ‘‘or she’’ near the end of the last sentence.

Annotations

Law reviews. - For article on the 2018 amendment of this Code section, see 35 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 45 (2018).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS When defendant not entitled to be present. - Court was unaware of any authority to support a right of a defendant to be present when a judge commits the judge’s decision to writing or instructs counsel to prepare an order; state court

practice and procedure permits the judge to hear motions, enter interlocutory orders, and perform judicial acts and conduct proceedings, other than trials on the merits, in chambers. Pfeiffer v. State, 173 Ga. App. 374, 326 S.E.2d 562 (1985).

RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. - 21 C.J.S., Courts, § 151 et seq.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 1 case, 1985–1985 · leading case: Pfeiffer v. State, 326 S.E.2d 562 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985).

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Pfeiffer v. State, 326 S.E.2d 562 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985). · cites it 2× “OCGA § 15-7-42. Pfeiffer further maintains that he did not know of the court’s ruling on the motions until the time of trial.”

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.