O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 17-8-6 (2019)

Authority of municipal court to seal criminal records

✓ 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) Any judge of a municipal court of any municipality of this state or any judge hearing cases for any such court wherein a municipal court is a court of first instance in criminal cases shall have the authority to seal, to all persons except criminal justice officials, all criminal records of the municipality, including, but not limited to, records of arrest, fingerprints, and photographs, whether maintained in the police agency of the municipality or elsewhere in the municipality, related to any individual, upon a finding by such a judge that one of the following conditions exists:

(1) When, upon the call of a case for trial, criminal charges against the individual are dismissed either:

(A) Upon the motion of the arresting officer; or

(B) Because of the lack of prosecution of such charges by the arresting officer or the municipality; or

(2) When criminal charges against the individual are the subject of a pretrial disposition by the municipal prosecutor, provided that the terms and conditions of the pretrial disposition are satisfied.

(b) Any order sealing the records of an individual, as provided for in subsection (a) of this Code section, shall in no way constitute an adjudication of any illegal or wrongful action on the part of the arresting officer or the municipality.

History

Ga. L. 1980, p. 1683, § 1.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Cited in Quintana v. State, 276 Ga. 731, 583 S.E.2d 869 (2003).

ARTICLE 2 CONTINUANCES