Document Type
Peach Sheet
Abstract
The bill would have amended the current Georgia Code regarding sentencing procedures in criminal trials. The bill would have modified the number of juror votes required to impose a death sentence in death penalty cases. The bill would only have affected the sentencing phase of criminal trials, not the guilt-innocence phase. The bill sought to provide judges with the ability to sentence defendants to either life imprisonment, life without parole, or death, when ten members of the jury vote for death as the sentence. The amendment would have changed the law from requiring a unanimous jury vote for the death penalty to allowing a ten-member vote of the jury to be sufficient to sentence a defendant to death.
Recommended Citation
Georgia State University Law Review,
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Sentence and Punishment: Amend Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to the Death Penalty Generally, so as to Provide that the Death Penalty May Be Imposed where the Jury Finds at Least One Aggravating Circumstance but Is Unable to Reach a Unanimous Verdict as to the Sentence, Taking into Account the Vote of the Jurors under Certain Circumstances; Change Provisions Relating to the Requirement of a Jury Finding of Aggravating Circumstance and Recommending the Death Penalty; Provide for an Effective Date and Applicability; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes,
24
Ga. St. U. L. Rev.
(2012).
Available at:
https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/gsulr/vol24/iss1/4