2022 Georgia Code
Title 15 - Courts
Chapter 18 - Prosecuting Attorneys
Article 3 - Solicitors-General of State Courts
§ 15-18-65. Disqualification; Solicitor-General Pro Tempore
- When a solicitor-general’s office is disqualified from interest or relationship to engage in the prosecution of a particular case or cases, such solicitor-general shall notify the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia of the disqualification. Upon receipt of such notification, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia shall request the services of and thereafter appoint a solicitor-general, a district attorney, a retired prosecuting attorney as provided in Code Section 15-18-30, other competent attorney, or an attorney from the Department of Law or the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia to act in place of the solicitor-general. The appointment of the solicitor-general pro tempore shall specify in writing the name of the case or cases to which such appointment shall apply.
- A private attorney acting as solicitor-general pro tempore pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be duly sworn and subject to all laws governing prosecuting attorneys. Such solicitor-general pro tempore shall be compensated in the same manner as appointed counsel in the county.
- A solicitor-general of another county or a district attorney who is designated as a solicitor-general pro tempore, any assistant designated by such solicitor-general pro tempore to prosecute such case or cases, or any employee of the Department of Law or the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia shall not receive any additional compensation for such services; provided, however, that the actual expenses incurred by the solicitor-general pro tempore or members of the solicitor-general pro tempore’s staff shall be reimbursed by the county in which said solicitor-general or district attorney is acting as solicitor-general pro tempore at the same rate as provided in Code Section 15-18-12 for district attorneys.
- Any order entered by a court disqualifying a solicitor-general’s office from engaging in the prosecution shall specify the legal basis of such order. The solicitor-general may, on behalf of the state and prior to the defendant in a criminal case being put in jeopardy, apply for a certificate of immediate review as provided in Code Section 5-7-2, and such order shall be subject to appellate review as provided by Chapter 7 of Title 5.
History. Code 1981, § 15-18-65 , enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 748, § 2; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1211, § 4; Ga. L. 2022, p. 503, § 2/HB 409.
The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, in subsection (a), substituted “executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia” for “Attorney General” in two places, and substituted “Code Section 15-18-30, other competent attorney, or an attorney from the Department of Law or the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia to act in place of the solicitor-general” for “Code Section 15-18-30, or other competent attorney to act in place of the solicitor-general, or may designate an attorney from the Department of Law”; and, in subsection (c), inserted “any” and “or the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia”.