2021 Georgia Code
Title 17 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 6 - Bonds and Recognizances
Article 2 - Sureties
Part 2 - Professional Bondsmen
§ 17-6-56. Bail Recovery Agents; Requirements; Registration
- As used in this Code section and Code Sections 17-6-57 and 17-6-58, the term "bail recovery agent" means any person who performs services or takes action for the purpose of apprehending the principal on a bail bond granted in this state or capturing a fugitive who has escaped from bail in this state for gratuity, benefit, or compensation.
- A bail recovery agent must be a United States citizen, 25 years of age or older, and must obtain a license pursuant to Code Section 16-11-129.
- Any sheriff of a county shall require any professional bondsman who is a resident of or doing business in the sheriff's county to register his or her bail recovery agents in that county. The professional bondsman must submit to the sheriff, in a form and manner to be determined by the sheriff, a list of all bail recovery agents whose services may be used by such bondsman.
(Code 1981, §17-6-56, enacted by Ga. L. 1999, p. 546, § 1.1.)
Law reviews.- For note on 1999 enactment of §§ 17-6-56 to17-6-58, see 16 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 106 (1999).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Vicarious liability for failure to register.
- When a bond recovery agent was registered as an agent in Fulton County in 2000 but had not renewed that registration for 2001 when the agent apprehended in that county a principal on a bond issued by a professional bondsman who employed the agent, the failure of the county to maintain a system for the registration of individual agents precluded a successful prosecution of the agent for violating O.C.G.A. § 17-6-58, and the agent could not be held vicariously liable for the bondsman's alleged failure to register the agent in violation of O.C.G.A. § 17-6-56(c). Additionally, O.C.G.A. § 17-6-58(a) did not provide the agent with fair notice that the agent could be held criminally responsible for acting as a bail recovery agent in Fulton County if the agent failed to renew the agent's registration in that county. Perkins v. State, 277 Ga. 323, 588 S.E.2d 719 (2003).
