2021 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 3 - Defenses to Criminal Prosecutions
Article 2 - Justification and Excuse
- § 16-3-20. Justification
- § 16-3-21. Use of Force in Defense of Self or Others; Evidence of Belief That Force Was Necessary in Murder or Manslaughter Prosecution
- § 16-3-22. Immunity From Criminal Liability of Persons Rendering Assistance to Law Enforcement Officers
- § 16-3-22.1. Persons Who Provide Assistance to Law Enforcement Officers or the Division of Family and Children Services When the Health and Safety of Children Are Adversely Affected and Threatened
- § 16-3-23. Use of Force in Defense of Habitation
- § 16-3-23.1. No Duty to Retreat Prior to Use of Force in Self-Defense
- § 16-3-24. Use of Force in Defense of Property Other Than a Habitation
- § 16-3-24.1. Habitation and Personal Property Defined
- § 16-3-24.2. Immunity From Prosecution; Exception
- § 16-3-25. Entrapment
- § 16-3-26. Coercion
- § 16-3-27. Benefit of Clergy
- § 16-3-28. Affirmative Defenses
- For article, "How the Fourth Amendment Frustrates the Regulation of Police Violence,” see 70 Emory L.J. 521 (2021). For note, "Heating Up and Cooling Down: Modifying the Provocation Defense by Expanding Cooling Time," see 54 Ga. L. Rev. 761 (2020).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Defendant does not bear burden of persuasion as to affirmative defenses.
- Affirmative defenses authorized by the former Criminal Code and former Code 1933, § 26-1003 (see now O.C.G.A. § 16-4-5) imply that if a defendant presents one it is to defendant's advantage and to defendant's interest to affirmatively show it as best defendant can, but defendant has no burden to show it nor does defendant have burden of persuasion. Moore v. State, 137 Ga. App. 735, 224 S.E.2d 856, rev'd on other grounds, 237 Ga. 269, 227 S.E.2d 241 (1976).
Cited in Grainger v. State, 138 Ga. App. 753, 227 S.E.2d 483 (1976); Perkins v. State, 151 Ga. App. 199, 259 S.E.2d 193 (1979); Powell v. State, 154 Ga. App. 568, 269 S.E.2d 70 (1980); Patterson v. Fuller, 654 F. Supp. 418 (N.D. Ga. 1987); Hightower v. State, 224 Ga. App. 703, 481 S.E.2d 867 (1997), overruled on other grounds by McClure v. State, 306 Ga. 856, 834 S.E.2d 96 (2019); Budhani v. State, 306 Ga. 315, 830 S.E.2d 195 (2019).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
ALR.
- Homicide or assault in attempting to prevent elopement, 8 A.L.R. 660.
Fact that gun was unloaded as affecting criminal responsibility, 68 A.L.R.4th 507.
