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2018 Georgia Code 16-11-66.1 | Car Wreck Lawyer

TITLE 16 CRIMES AND OFFENSES

Section 11. Offenses Against Public Order and Safety, 16-11-1 through 16-11-224.

ARTICLE 3 INVASIONS OF PRIVACY

16-11-66.1. Disclosure of stored wire or electronic communications; records; search warrants; issuance of subpoena; violation.

  1. A law enforcement officer, a prosecuting attorney, or the Attorney General may require the disclosure of stored wire or electronic communications, as well as transactional records pertaining thereto, to the extent and under the procedures and conditions provided for by the laws of the United States.
  2. A provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service shall provide the contents of, and transactional records pertaining to, wire and electronic communications in its possession or reasonably accessible thereto when a requesting law enforcement officer, a prosecuting attorney, or the Attorney General complies with the provisions for access thereto set forth by the laws of the United States.
  3. Search warrants for production of stored wire or electronic communications and transactional records pertaining thereto shall have state-wide application or application as provided by the laws of the United States when issued by a judge with jurisdiction over the criminal offense under investigation and to which such records relate.
  4. A subpoena for the production of stored wire or electronic communications and transactional records pertaining thereto may be issued at any time upon a showing by a law enforcement official, a prosecuting attorney, or the Attorney General that the subpoenaed material relates to a pending criminal investigation.
  5. Violation of this Code section shall be punishable as contempt.

(Code 1981, §16-11-66.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 299, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1023, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1432, § 4; Ga. L. 2003, p. 140, § 16.)

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2002, p. 1432, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as 'Georgia's Support of the War on Terrorism Act of 2002'."

Law reviews.

- For annual survey on criminal law, see 65 Mercer L. Rev. 79 (2013). For note on 1993 enactment of this Code section, see 10 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 109 (1993).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Cited in Tapley v. Collins, 41 F. Supp. 2d 1366 (S.D. Ga. 1999); Barlow v. Barlow, 272 Ga. 102, 526 S.E.2d 857 (2000); Luangkhot v. State, 292 Ga. 423, 736 S.E.2d 397 (2013).

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 16-11-66.1

Total Results: 11  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Luangkhot v. State, 292 Ga. 423 (Ga. 2013).

Cited 86 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jan 7, 2013 | 736 S.E.2d 397

...erceptions outside their circuits, it could have done so explicitly, as it has done in other areas. For example, warrants for the production of stored wire and electronic communications have been expressly afforded “state-wide application.” OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (c)....
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Hampton v. State, 295 Ga. 665 (Ga. 2014).

Cited 44 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 22, 2014 | 763 S.E.2d 467

...In the present review, this Court will accept the trial court's factual findings and credibility determinations unless they are clearly erroneous, but the Court will independently apply the legal principles to the facts. Id. Citing OCGA §§ 16-11-66.1 (a)2; 16-11-673, and 18 USCA § 2703 (a)4, 2 OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (a) provides: A law enforcement officer, a prosecuting attorney, or the Attorney General may require the disclosure of stored wire or electronic communications, as well as transactional records pertaining thereto,...
...demand stored wire and electronic communications information from a communications provider. The statutes generally authorize governmental entities to require providers to disclose the contents of recently stored communications only by means of a properly issued warrant. See OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (a) (“A law enforcement officer, a prosecuting attorney, or the Attorney General may require the disclosure of stored wire or electronic communications, as well as transactional records pertaining thereto, to the extent and under t...
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Registe v. State, 292 Ga. 154 (Ga. 2012).

Cited 23 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 5, 2012 | 734 S.E.2d 19, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3454

...Accordingly, Registe is not entitled to challenge the release of phone records in this case on Fourth Amendment grounds. Registe does argue that the release of the cell phone records in this case failed to comply with relevant state and federal statutory provisions. OCGA § 16-11-66.1 states: (a) A law enforcement officer, a prosecuting attorney, or the Attorney General may require the disclosure of stored wire or electronic communications, as well as transactional records pertaining thereto, to the extent and under...
...l statutory provisions cited above and precluded suppression of the evidence.5 Registe’s motion to suppress was properly denied.6 Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur, except Hunstein, C. J., and Blackwell, J., who concur specially. OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (e) provides: “Violation of this Code section shall be punishable as contempt.” 18 USC § 2707 allows a subscriber to file a civil action against any party who improperly releases covered records or information. For this reason, it is questionable whether OCGA § 16-11-66.1 or OCGA § 16-11-67 are applicable at all to this case, as the former statute appears to apply only to mandatory disclosures. We emphasize that the release of information in this case was voluntary and thereby governed by 18 USC § 2702 (c) (4)....
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Byers v. State, 857 S.E.2d 447 (Ga. 2021).

Cited 18 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 5, 2021 | 311 Ga. 259

...principles apply to attempts to exclude evidence on the ground that it was obtained in violation of OCGA § 16-11-62. See Hampton v. State, 295 Ga. 665, 668-670 (2) (763 SE2d 467) (2014) (defendant did not have standing to seek suppression under OCGA §§ 16-11-66.1 (a) and 16-11-67 of text messages associated with account that he had not shown was his; “[T]he focus of OCGA §§ 16-11-62 through 16-11-67 is the protection of individuals from invasion of their privacy....
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Outlaw v. State, 858 S.E.2d 63 (Ga. 2021).

Cited 17 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 3, 2021 | 311 Ga. 396

...the records or other information sought[ ] are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation. In the case of a State governmental authority, such a court order shall not issue if prohibited by the law of such State. OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (a) permits a prosecutor to require the disclosure of cell phone records “to the extent and under the procedures and conditions provided for by the laws of the United States.” 6 evidence deri...
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Lofton v. State, 854 S.E.2d 690 (Ga. 2021).

Cited 17 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Feb 15, 2021 | 310 Ga. 770

...authorized under the SCA and binding appellate precedent at the time. See id. at 156-157. 13 In addition to challenging the release of cell phone records under 18 USC § 2702 (c) (4), Registe also argued that the release failed to comply with OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (d), which provides: “A subpoena for the production of stored wire or electronic communications and transactional records pertaining thereto may be issued at any time upon a showing by a law enforcement official, a prosecuting attorne...
...material relates to a pending criminal investigation.” See also OCGA §§ 16-11- 62 (defining offenses involving unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance); 16-11- 69 (providing punishments for offenses involving unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance). We questioned whether OCGA § 16-11-66.1 applies to voluntary disclosures under 18 USC § 2702 (c) (4), because OCGA § 16-11-66.1 “appears to apply only to mandatory disclosures” of electronic communications and related transactional records to law enforcement....
...at 157 n.3 (emphasis in original); see id. at 158 (Hunstein, C. J., concurring specially) (“Intended to establish ground rules for the issuance and use of warrants, subpoenas, and other means by which law enforcement can compel the disclosure of information, [OCGA § 16-11-66.1] does not address situations involving voluntary disclosures by service providers.”)). 21 Four years after Lofton’s trial, the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter v....
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State v. Harris, 301 Ga. 234 (Ga. 2017).

Cited 8 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 1, 2017 | 799 S.E.2d 801

...the same. In its order granting Harris’ motion, the trial court concluded as follows: The contents of electronic communications less than 180 days old can only be obtained pursuant to a warrant issued after a showing of probable cause. See OCGA § 16-11-66.1; 18 USC § 2703; OCGA § 17-5-21; and Hampton v....
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State v. LEDBETTER (& Vice Versa), 899 S.E.2d 222 (Ga. 2024).

Cited 7 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 5, 2024 | 318 Ga. 457

...clearly shows that the warrants in this case were supported by probable cause, Ledbetter’s challenges to the warrants fail, and we need not consider whether 42 (ii) Ledbetter next argues that the warrant is invalid under OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (c), which allows the “state-wide application or application as provided by the laws of the United States” of search warrants for production of certain communications and records “when issued by a judge with jurisdiction over t...

Bradford v. State (Ga. 2026).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Feb 17, 2026 | 318 Ga. 457

...Stored 32 Communications Act, 18 USC § 2703(a), which requires a warrant to obtain the disclosure of cell phone messages pursuant to that provision, or the complementary provision under the Georgia Code, OCGA § 16-11-66.1(a)....
...privacy in their cell phone records and therefore lacked standing to raise a Fourth Amendment challenge to the disclosure of the records and that the suppression of evidence was not an available remedy under the Stored Communications Act or OCGA § 16-11-66.1(a)....

Wilson v. State (Ga. 2025).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 24, 2025 | 318 Ga. 457

...shall issue only if the governmental entity offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that . . . the records or other information sought[] are 59 See also OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (a) (permitting a prosecutor to require the disclosure of cell phone records “to the extent and under the procedures and conditions provided for by the laws of the United States”). Prior to trial, Wilson filed a motion to s...
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Barlow v. Barlow, 526 S.E.2d 857 (Ga. 2000).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Feb 28, 2000 | 272 Ga. 102, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 821

...It defies law, logic, and common sense to distinguish between the privacy expectations of individuals when talking on a cordless telephone and their expectations when talking on a land line or cellular telephone, especially when the conversation occurs in the speaker's home. Finally, the legislature's enactment of OCGA § 16-11-66.1 supports construing OCGA § 16-11-62(4) to protect messages sent by cordless telephones from intentional interception....
...In 1992, the Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia construed the term "private communication" in section 16-11-62(4) to exclude conversations on a cellular telephone "because cellular telephones transmit `FM' radio waves for anyone to hear." [5] During the next legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly passed section 16-11-66.1 prohibiting any person from intercepting or receiving cellular telephone communications....