Archive for March, 2009
The passage of tough sex offender laws three years ago has been criticized by civil rights groups as being too harsh and too broad. Georgia lawmakers are now contemplating changing the toughest provisions of the sex offender laws to quell the debate.
The Macon Georgia Telegraph has the story.
The tougher laws against sex offenders were passed in 2006 in hopes of preventing the state from becoming a haven for sex offenders. Indeed, the laws passed in 2006 are ...
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In one of our firm's recent appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court last week determined that a Georgia statute prohibiting medical doctors from issuing blank prescriptions was constitutional despite its vague language. The Court was sharply divided, and there were two separate dissenting opinions. (Our firm represents the doctor.)
In Raber v. State, Dr. Raber was charged with 33 counts of unlawfully issuing prescription forms which were signed but left blank. Dr. Raber, a small town doctor, left the ...
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Recently, the Georgia Court of Appeals was asked to determine if the introduction of a prior independent act which places a defendant’s character at issue should result in a mistrial when the defendant does not induce error nor open the door to the independent act. The court ruled that a mistrial should be granted in such cases.
In Smith v. State, the defendant, Michael G. Smith, was convicted by a jury of kidnapping, aggravated assault, and burglary. The conviction ...
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The Georgia Court of Appeals was faced with deciding whether a trial court properly granted a defendant immunity when the alleged victim recanted her story and the state failed to produce any other evidence at a pretrial hearing. The court ruled that the defendant was entitled to immunity, since there was evidence for the trial court to find that defendant acted in self-defense prior to trial.
In State v. Yapo, the defendant, Yapo, and his girlfriend got into a fight ...
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