Courts Juries: Provide the State and the Accused With the Same Number of Peremptory Challenges in Misdemeanor, Felony, and Death Penalty Cases and in Challenging Alternative Jurors; Provide the Manner in Which Peremptory Challenges Are Made; Change the Size of the Jury Panel in Felony and Death Penalty Cases; Provide the State With an Equal Number of Additional Peremptory Challenges in Trials for Jointly Indicted Defendants; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Caregiver of a Child Who Is Four Years of Age or Younger; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Teacher of Children in a Home Study Program; and for Other Purposes

• Citation: Vol. 21 No. 1
• Publication year: 2010

Georgia State University Law Review

Volume 21 . Issue 1 Fall 2004 ⁶

9-1-2004

COURTS Juries: Provide the State and the Accused with the Same Number of Peremptory Challenges in Misdemeanor, Felony, and Death Penalty Cases and in Challenging Alternative Jurors; Provide the Manner in Which Peremptory Challenges are Made; Change the Size of the Jury Panel in Felony and Death Penalty Cases; Provide the State with an Equal Number ofAdditional Peremptory Challenges in Trials for Jointly Indicted Defendants; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Caregiver of a Child Who Is Four Years ofAge or Younger; Provide an Exemption

Recommended Citation

Poole, Jonathan (2004) "COURTS Juries: Provide the State and the Accused with the Same Number of Peremptory Challenges in Misdemeanor, Felony, and Death Penalty Cases and in Challenging Alternative Jurors; Provide the Manner in Which Peremptory Challenges are Made; Change the Size of the Jury Panel in Felony and Death Penalty Cases; Provide the State with an Equal Number of Additional Peremptory Challenges in Trials for Jointly Indicted Defendants; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Caregiver of a Child Who Is Four Years of Age or Younger; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Teacher of Children in a Home Study Program; and for Other Purposes," Georgia State University Law Review: Vol. 21: Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/gsulr/vol21/iss176

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from Jury Duty for a Primary Teacher of Children in a Home Study Program; and for Other Purposes

Jonathan Poole

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COURTS

Juries: Provide the State and the Accused with the Same Number of Peremptory Challenges in Misdemeanor, Felony, and Death Penalty Cases and in Challenging Alternative Jurors; Provide the Manner in Which Peremptory Challenges Are Made; Change the Size of the Jury Panel in Felony and Death Penalty Cases; Provide the State with an Equal Number of Additional Peremptory Challenges in Trials for Jointly Indicted Defendants; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Caregiver of a Child Who Is Four Years of Age or Younger; Provide an Exemption from Jury Duty for a Primary Teacher of Children in a Home Study Program;

and for Other Purposes

Bill Number: HB 1227

Summary: In 2004, the Georgia General Assembly

considered a bill designed to exempt home-school teachers and certain primary caregivers from jury duty. The Senate amended the bill to provide the State and the accused with an equal number of peremptory challenges in death penalty, felony, and misdemeanor cases.

History

Georgia is among the minority of states that do not allow the State and the accused an equal number of peremptory jury strikes in misdemeanor, felony, and capital cases.¹ Georgia law gives the defense twelve peremptory strikes and the State six in felony and misdemeanor cases.² In death penalty cases, the defense may peremptorily challenge twenty jurors, and the State may peremptorily

1. See Brian Russell, Prosecutors Vow to Continue to Fight for Equal Strikes, albany herald, Apr. 22, 2004, available at http://albanyherald. net/fronts^ (last visited May 9, 2004).

2. 1992 Ga. Laws 1981, § 2, at 1982 (codified at O.G.G.A. § 15-12-165 (2001)).

36

2004] LEGISLATIVE REVIEW 37

challenge ten.³ In recent years, allowing an equal number of jury strikes has become a hotly contested issue.⁴ With the consideration of HB 1227, equal jury strikes came closer to becoming a reality in Georgia than ever before.⁵ However, the bill's inclusion of a provision for equal jury strikes in death penalty cases may have prevented it from passing the House of Representatives.⁶

Since 1996, Georgia legislators have introduced a number of equal strikes bills, and in most cases, those bills ultimately failed to pass either the House or the Senate. In 1996, the Senate considered SB 527, which would have amended Code section 15-12-165 to provide for equal peremptory strikes in felony, misdemeanor, and capital cases.⁷ The Senate only read the bill once.⁸ In 1997, legislators introduced two Senate bills related to peremptory jury strikes: SB 64, which included equal strikes in all cases, and SB 114, which also called for equal strikes in all cases and would have amended Code section 15-12-160 to decrease the number of jurors impaneled in felony and death penalty cases.⁹ HB 1090, which the House considered first in 1997 and read for a second time in 1998, mirrored SB 114, but the House failed to vote on it.¹⁰ Moreover, SB 690, which was also identical to SB 114, never made it to the Senate floor in 1998 because it was withdrawn.¹¹ Finally, Senators introduced SB 158 in 2001.¹² The Lieutenant Governor referred the bill to the Senate

3. Id.

4. See Russell, supra note 1.

5. Id.

6. See Audio Recording of House Proceedings, Apr. 7, 2004 (remarks by Rep. Jim Stokes), at http://www.georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0₎2094,4802_6107703,00.html [hereinafter House Audio]; see also Audio Recording of Senate Proceedings, Apr. 1, 2004 (remarks by Sen. Steve Henson), at http://www.georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0...