2021 Georgia Code
Title 17 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 7 - Pretrial Proceedings
Article 7 - Demand for Trial; Announcement of Readiness for Trial
§ 17-7-170. Demand for Speedy Trial; Service; Discharge and Acquittal for Lack of Prosecution; Expiration; Reversal on Direct Appeal; Mistrial and Retrial; Special Pleas of Incompetency

1. Any defendant against whom a true bill of indictment or an accusation is filed with the clerk for an offense not affecting the defendant's life may enter a demand for speedy trial at the court term at which the indictment or accusation is filed or at the next succeeding regular court term thereafter; or, by special permission of the court, the defendant may at any subsequent court term thereafter demand a speedy trial. In either case, the demand for speedy trial shall be filed with the clerk of court and served upon the prosecutor and upon the judge to whom the case is assigned or, if the case is not assigned, upon the chief judge of the court in which the case is pending. A demand for speedy trial filed pursuant to this Code section shall be filed as a separate, distinct, and individual document and shall not be a part of any other pleading or document. Such demand shall clearly be titled "Demand for Speedy Trial"; reference this Code section within the pleading; and identify the indictment number or accusation number for which such demand is being made. The demand for speedy trial shall be binding only in the court in which the demand for speedy trial is filed, except where the case is transferred from one court to another without a request from the defendant.
2. If the defendant is not tried when the demand for speedy trial is made or at the next succeeding regular court term thereafter, provided that at both court terms there were juries impaneled and qualified to try the defendant, the defendant shall be absolutely discharged and acquitted of the offense charged in the indictment or accusation. For purposes of computing the term at which a misdemeanor must be tried under this Code section, there shall be excluded any civil term of court in a county in which civil and criminal terms of court are designated; and for purposes of this Code section it shall be as if such civil term was not held.
3. Any demand for speedy trial filed pursuant to this Code section shall expire at the conclusion of the trial or upon the defendant entering a plea of guilty or nolo contendere.
4. If a case in which a demand for speedy trial has been filed, as provided in this Code section, is reversed on direct appeal, a new demand for speedy trial shall be filed within the term of court in which the remittitur from the appellate court is received by the clerk of court or at the next succeeding regular court term thereafter.
5. If the case in which a demand for speedy trial has been filed as provided in this Code section results in a mistrial, the case shall be tried at the next succeeding regular term of court.
6. If a defendant files a special plea of incompetency to stand trial pursuant to Code Section 17-7-130 or if the court, pursuant to Code Section 17-7-129, conducts a trial on the competency of the defendant, the period of time during which such matter is pending shall not be included in the computation of determining whether a demand for speedy trial has been satisfied.

(Ga. L. 1859, p. 60, § 1; Code 1863, § 4534; Code 1868, § 4554; Code 1873, § 4648; Code 1882, § 4648; Penal Code 1895, § 958; Penal Code 1910, § 983; Code 1933, § 27-1901; Ga. L. 1985, p. 637, § 5; Ga. L. 1987, p. 841, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 154, § 3; Ga. L. 2006, p. 893, § 1/HB 1421; Ga. L. 2011, p. 372, § 3/HB 421.)

- Requests by inmates for final disposition of indictments or accusations pending against them, § 42-6-3.

Filing and processing, caption, Uniform Superior Court Rules, Rule 36.3.

- For annual survey on criminal law and procedure, see 42 Mercer L. Rev. 141 (1990). For annual survey of criminal law, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 113 (2005); 58 Mercer L. Rev. 83 (2006).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Timing
• Procedure
• Role of Clerk
• Qualified Jury
• Demand
• Waiver
• Impact of Motions for Mistrials
• Discharge and Acquittal
• Application
• Appeals

In order to receive the right or privilege granted under this section, the defendant must show a demand made in accordance with the statute. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 65-70.

- Individual making a proper demand for trial under this section must be produced for trial within the statutorily allotted time, even though the individual may be serving another sentence under the jurisdiction of the Board of Offender Rehabilitation at the time of demand. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 65-70.

Fact that a demand for jury trial is filed on the last day of the term has no legal significance as long as there are jurors impaneled and qualified to try the case. 1984 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U84-39.

- Provisions of O.C.G.A. § 17-7-170 do not apply to probate courts, since no juries are available in that court, and therefore there would be no "juries inpaneled and qualified to try" the defendant. 1986 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U86-13.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 21 Am. Jur. 2d, Criminal Law, §§ 267 et seq., 278 et seq.

- 16B C.J.S., Constitutional Law, § 1328. 16C C.J.S., Constitutional Law, § 1696. 22A C.J.S., Criminal Procedure and Rights of the Accused, § 554. 23 C.J.S., Criminal Procedure and Rights of the Accused, §§ 793 et seq., 820 et seq.

- Discharge of accused under a limitation statute as a bar to a subsequent prosecution for the same offense, 3 A.L.R. 519.

Remedy for delay in bringing accused to trial or to retrial after reversal, 58 A.L.R. 1015.

Waiver or loss of defendant's right to speedy trial in criminal case, 129 A.L.R. 572; 57 A.L.R.2d 302.

Discharge of accused for holding him excessive time without trial as bar to subsequent prosecution for same offense, 50 A.L.R.2d 943.

Continuance of criminal case because of illness of accused, 66 A.L.R.2d 232.

Effect of abolition of capital punishment on procedural rules governing crimes punishable by death - post-Furman decisions, 71 A.L.R.3d 453.

Illness or incapacity of judge, prosecuting officer, or prosecution witness as justifying delay in bringing accused speedily to trial - state cases, 78 A.L.R.3d 297.

Waiver, after not guilty plea, of jury trial in felony case, 9 A.L.R.4th 695.

Bail: effect on liability of bail bond surety of state's delay in obtaining indictment or bringing defendant to trial, 32 A.L.R.4th 600.

Application of speedy trial statute to dismissal or other termination of prior indictment or information and bringing of new indictment or information, 39 A.L.R.4th 899.

Disruptive conduct of spectators in presence of jury during criminal trial as basis for reversal, new trial, or mistrial - spoken words, 102 A.L.R.6th 279.

Disruptive conduct of spectators in presence of jury during criminal trial as basis for reversal, new trial, or mistrial - laughter, crying, and other nonverbal sounds by spectators, 103 A.L.R.6th 35.

What constitutes accused's consent to court's discharge of jury or to grant of motion for mistrial which will constitute waiver of former jeopardy plea - silence or failure to object or protest, 103 A.L.R.6th 137.

Construction and application of Speedy Trial Act, 18 USCS §§ 3161 to 3174 - United States Supreme Court cases, 46 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 129.