2021 Georgia Code
Title 17 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 16 - Discovery
Article 2 - Misdemeanor Cases
§ 17-16-20. Applicability of Article

The provisions of this article shall apply only to misdemeanor cases or to felony cases docketed, indicted, or in which an accusation was returned prior to January 1, 1995, if the prosecuting attorney and the defendant do not agree in writing that the provisions of Article 1 of this chapter shall apply.

(Code 1981, §17-16-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1994, p. 1895, § 4; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1250, § 3.)

- For note on the 1995 amendment of this Code section, see 12 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 144 (1995).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Discovery applicable to misdemeanor cases.

- Discovery provisions applicable to misdemeanor prosecutions are not the same as those applicable to felony prosecutions, and discovery requirements applicable to misdemeanors did not require the state to produce the items that the defendant claimed should have been produced, including police reports, copies of9-1-1 recordings, crime scene photographs, the victim's criminal history, witness statements and repair records for the property the defendant damaged; the defendant admitted that the state provided the defendant with a copy of the accusation, as required by O.C.G.A. § 17-16-21, as well as the state's witness list and a copy of the defendant's criminal record, so under the circumstances, the state complied with the state's discovery obligations. Brooks v. State, 267 Ga. App. 663, 600 S.E.2d 737 (2004).

Witnesses' statements are not required to be made available by prosecutors for discovery by the defendant in a misdemeanor case. Brown v. State, 246 Ga. App. 517, 541 S.E.2d 112 (2000).

Cited in Bazemore v. State, 244 Ga. App. 460, 535 S.E.2d 830 (2000).