2020 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 10 - Offenses Against Public Administration
Article 3 - Escape and Other Offenses Related to Confinement
§ 16-10-54. Assailing, Opposing, or Resisting Officer of the Law in a Penal Institution
A person in the lawful custody of any penal institution of the state or of a political subdivision of the state who assails, opposes, or resists an officer of the law or of such penal institution or a member of the guard with intent to cause serious bodily injury commits the offense of mutiny and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years.
(Laws 1833, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 810; Code 1863, § 4396; Code 1868, § 4437; Code 1873, § 4510; Code 1882, § 4510; Penal Code 1895, § 329; Penal Code 1910, § 334; Code 1933, § 26-4801; Code 1933, § 26-2507, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 808, § 1.)
Cross references.- Admissibility of testimony of inmates in trials for crime of mutiny, § 17-8-51.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Mutiny in a penal institution and aggravated assault require proof of different elements and, therefore, the former offense cannot be a lesser included offense of the latter. Bierria v. State, 232 Ga. App. 622, 502 S.E.2d 542 (1998).
Insufficient foundation for eliciting testimony to show justification.
- When the defendant, charged with violating O.C.G.A. § 16-10-54 by throwing boiling water on a prison guard, tried to elicit testimony of previous difficulties between the defendant and the guard during cross-examination in order to put forward a defense of justification, the trial court properly disallowed the line of questioning because the defendant had failed to lay a proper foundation for such entry. Taylor v. State, 180 Ga. App. 200, 348 S.E.2d 582 (1986).
Evidence sufficient to support conviction.
- When a deputy testified that the defendant resisted the deputy's efforts to break up a prison fight, then turned on the deputy, punched the deputy, and swung at the deputy repeatedly, injuring the deputy, there was sufficient evidence of mutiny in a penal institution and felony obstruction of an officer; the trial court was authorized under O.C.G.A. § 16-2-6 to infer from the circumstances that the defendant both knowingly and willfully obstructed the deputy by the use of violence and intended to cause the deputy serious bodily injury by striking the deputy with a fist, and under former O.C.G.A. § 24-4-8 (see now O.C.G.A. § 24-14-8), it could rely solely on the deputy's account of the events. Butler v. State, 284 Ga. App. 802, 644 S.E.2d 898 (2007).
Cited in Jordan v. State, 247 Ga. 328, 276 S.E.2d 224 (1981); Suggs v. State, 164 Ga. App. 227, 296 S.E.2d 124 (1982); Weaver v. State, 170 Ga. App. 731, 318 S.E.2d 196 (1984); McCrainie v. State, 172 Ga. App. 188, 322 S.E.2d 360 (1984); Rhine v. State, 174 Ga. App. 859, 332 S.E.2d 1 (1985); Weaver v. State, 176 Ga. App. 639, 337 S.E.2d 420 (1985); McCord v. State, 182 Ga. App. 586, 356 S.E.2d 689 (1987); Jackson v. State, 182 Ga. App. 885, 357 S.E.2d 321 (1987).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 27A Am. Jur. 2d, Escape, §§ 2, 4.
C.J.S.- 30A C.J.S., Escape and Related Offenses; Rescue, § 21 et seq.
ALR.- When statute of limitation begins to run on charge of obstructing justice or of conspiracy to do so, 77 A.L.R.3d 725.
