2020 Georgia Code
Title 24 - Evidence
Chapter 13 - Securing Attendance of Witnesses and Production and Preservation of Evidence
Article 3 - Securing Attendance of Prisoners
§ 24-13-62. Issuance of Writ of Habeas Corpus Requiring Prisoner's Delivery to Serve as Witness in Superior Court

The writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum may be issued by the superior court to cause the production in court of any witness under legal imprisonment.

(Code 1981, §24-13-62, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24.)

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 98 C.J.S. (Rev), Witnesses, § 107.

- Constitutionality of statute restoring competency of convicts as witnesses, 63 A.L.R. 982.

Right of accused to have his witnesses free from handcuffs, manacles, shackles, or the like, 75 A.L.R.2d 762.

ARTICLE 4 UNIFORM ACT TO SECURE THE ATTENDANCE OF WITNESSES FROM WITHOUT THE STATE

Cross references.

- Procedure for testimony of out of state witnesses in guardianship or conservatorship proceeding, § 29-11-6.

Securing attendance of witnesses at grand jury or trial proceedings generally, § 17-7-190 et seq.

- For article on the 2011 enactment of this article, see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 1 (2011).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former O.C.G.A. Art. 5, Ch. 10, T. 24 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Under Georgia's new Evidence Code, unless a fact-finding proceeding involves one of the 12 situations enumerated in O.C.G.A. § 24-1-2(c) and (d), the rules of evidence fully apply; similarity to one or more of the enumerated situations is insufficient to limit the applicability of the evidence rules. Parker v. State, 296 Ga. 586, 769 S.E.2d 329 (2015).

- Under O.C.G.A. § 24-1-2(b), the rules of evidence apply to a proceeding for issuance of a material witness certificate under the out-of-state witness act unless one of the exceptions in § 24-1-2(c) or (d) applies. Parker v. State, 296 Ga. 586, 769 S.E.2d 329 (2015).

§ 17-7-192 not applicable to procedure to secure witnesses. - Provisions of O.C.G.A. § 17-7-192, prohibiting a continuance due to the absence of witnesses when the accused failed to use the means provided in the former statutory provisions, which dealt with the accused's right to obtain subpoenas for such witnesses as the accused may deem material for the accused's defense, did not apply to the procedure set forth in former O.C.G.A. Art. 5, Ch. 10, T. 24 (see now O.C.G.A. Art. 4, Ch. 13, T. 24). Farrell v. State, 160 Ga. App. 321, 287 S.E.2d 318 (1981) (decided under former O.C.G.A. Art. 5, Ch. 10, T. 24).

Defendant lacked standing to complain of any procedural irregularities involved in obtaining a witness whom the state procured by means of former O.C.G.A. Art. 5, Ch. 10, T. 24 (see now O.C.G.A. Art. 4, Ch. 13, T. 24). Moon v. State, 258 Ga. 748, 375 S.E.2d 442 (1988), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 982, 111 S. Ct. 1638, 113 L. Ed. 2d 733 (1991), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Zant v. Moon, 264 Ga. 93, 440 S.E.2d 657 (1994) (decided under former O.C.G.A. Art. 5, Ch. 10, T. 24).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

U.L.A.

- Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings (U.L.A.). Uniform Rendition of Prisoners as Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings Act (U.L.A.).

- Availability under uniform act to secure the attendance of witnesses from without a state in criminal proceedings of subpoena duces tecum, 7 A.L.R.4th 836.

Sufficiency of evidence to support or require finding that out-of-state witness in criminal case is "material witness" justifying certificate to secure attendance under Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, 12 A.L.R.4th 742.

Sufficiency of evidence to support or require finding that in-state witness in criminal case is "material and necessary" justifying issuance of summons directing attendance of witness under Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, 12 A.L.R.4th 771.