2021 Georgia Code
Title 17 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 10 - Sentence and Punishment
Article 2 - Death Penalty Generally
§ 17-10-34. Sentence to Specify Time Period for and Place of Execution; Appointing Time Period for Execution of Pregnant Female

When a person is sentenced to the punishment of death, the court shall specify the time period for the execution in the sentence. The time period for the execution fixed by the court shall be seven days in duration and shall commence at noon on a specified date and shall end at noon on a specified date. The time period shall commence not less than 20 days nor more than 60 days from the date of sentencing. However, if the person is a female who is pregnant at the time of sentencing, the court shall appoint a time period for execution after the female is no longer pregnant.

(Laws 1833, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 840; Code 1863, § 4555; Code 1868, § 4575; Code 1873, § 4669; Code 1882, § 4669; Penal Code 1895, § 1044; Penal Code 1910, § 1070; Code 1933, § 27-2519; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1463, § 1.)

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Authority of court.

- Courts may only exercise those powers which are expressly delegated to the courts in setting time or place for execution. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-86.

- If the date for the execution of a convict in a capital case has passed for any reason, the judge has the power to set a new date for the execution of the original sentence, but the Department of Offender Rehabilitation (now Department of Corrections) is not bound by further, more specific time limitations which such court might impose and the department may exercise broad discretion in establishing the specific hour of execution on the date specified. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-86.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 21 Am. Jur. 2d, Criminal Law, § 718 et seq.

- 24 C.J.S., Criminal Procedure and Rights of the Accused, § 2420 et seq.

- Effect of permitting day fixed for execution to pass without carrying out sentence, 34 A.L.R. 314.