2022 Georgia Code
Title 15 - Courts
Chapter 12 - Juries
Article 4 - Grand Juries
Part 1 - General Provisions
§ 15-12-60. Qualifications of Grand Jurors; Impact of Ineligibility

1. Any citizen of this state 18 years of age or older who has resided in the county for at least six months preceding the time of service shall be eligible and liable to serve as a grand juror.
2. Any person who holds any elective office in state or local government or who has held any such office within a period of two years preceding the time of service as a grand juror shall not be eligible to serve as a grand juror.
3. The following individuals shall not be eligible to serve as a grand juror:
   1. Any individual who has been convicted of a felony in a state or federal court who has not had his or her civil rights restored;
   2. Any individual who has been judicially determined to be mentally incompetent;
   3. Any individual charged with a felony offense and who is in a pretrial release program, a pretrial release and diversion program, or a pretrial intervention and diversion program, as provided for in Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 15 or Article 4 of Chapter 3 of Title 42 or pursuant to Uniform Superior Court Rule 27, a similar diversion program from another state, or a similar federal court diversion program for a felony offense;
   4. Any individual sentenced for a felony offense pursuant to Code Section 16-13-2 who has not completed the terms of his or her sentence;
   5. Any individual serving a sentence for a felony offense pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 42 or serving a first offender sentence for a felony offense pursuant to another state’s law; and
   6. Any individual who is participating in a drug court division, mental health court division, veterans court division, a similar court program from another state, or a similar federal court program for a felony offense.
4. If an indictment is returned, and a grand juror was ineligible to serve as a grand juror pursuant to subsection (c) of this Code section, such indictment shall not be quashed solely as a result of such ineligibility.

History. Orig. Code 1863, § 3821; Code 1868, § 3841; Code 1873, § 3906; Code 1882, § 3906; Ga. L. 1887, p. 53, § 1; Penal Code 1895, § 811; Penal Code 1910, § 811; Code 1933, § 59-201; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 284, § 3; Ga. L. 1973, p. 726, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 438, § 6; Ga. L. 1977, p. 341, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 779, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 12; Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-26/HB 415; Ga. L. 2012, p. 173, § 3-3/HB 665; Ga. L. 2015, p. 693, § 1A-1/HB 233; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1112, § 15/SB 365.

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted the present provisions of subsection (c) for the former provisions, which read: “Any person who has been convicted of a felony in a state or federal court who has not had his or her civil rights restored and any person who has been judicially determined to be mentally incompetent shall not be eligible to serve as a grand juror.”; and added subsection (d). See editor’s note for applicability.

The 2018 amendment, effective May 8, 2018, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “Article 4 of Chapter 3 of Title 42” for “Article 5 of Chapter 8 of Title 42” in the middle of paragraph (c)(3).

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-1/HB 415, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Jury Composition Reform Act of 2011.’ ”

Ga. L. 2015, p. 693, § 4-1/HB 233, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2015, and shall apply to seizures of property for forfeiture that occur on or after that date. Any such seizure that occurs before July 1, 2015, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time of such seizure.”

Law reviews.

For article on the effect on jury service of a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 723 (1979).

For annual survey on criminal law, see 64 Mercer L. Rev. 83 (2012).

For article on the 2015 amendment of this Code section, see 32 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 1 (2015).