When the 2009 Georgia General Assembly convened two things were certain to be eliminated: the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council (GPDSC) and the requirement that juries be unanimous in capital cases. But against all odds, and after an incredibly challenging and chaotic legislative session, SCHR and our allies succeeded in defeating legislation that would have deeply harmed poor people accused of crimes, particularly those facing death.

At the start of the session, reactionary legislators were poised to exploit the tragedy of the Brian Nichols case for their political gains. We braced ourselves not only to fight against less than unanimous juries in death penalty cases, but also the abolition of the GPDSC which had come under fire because of the high cost of defending Nichols.

In December, 2008, Brian Nichols was convicted of hostage-taking and the killing of a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s deputy and an off-duty federal agent in a 2005 shooting spree that began in a downtown Atlanta courthouse. The case generated considerable publicity and public hostility. Nichols was sentenced by a judge to serve Life In Prison Without the Possibility of Parole after a jury was split 9-3 on whether to sentence him to death. The majority of the jury wanted Nichols to receive a death sentence, but after the four days the jurors were unable to reach an agreement.

The response to the Nichols case reignited longstanding efforts in the state legislature to pass legislation that would change the current requirement for a unanimous jury to allow a death sentence to be imposed on a 10-2 vote. Similar legislation – including a proposal to allow death when the jury is split 9-3 – has been introduced in the last two sessions but was defeated as a result of vigorous opposition organized by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. However, the Nichols case provided new and significant momentum for this legislation to be passed.

However, yet again, bloodthirsty legislators failed in their efforts to lower the standard for imposing death and devaluing the contribution of jurors who may not support imposing death in certain cases. This is of critical importance with regard to the nature of jury deliberations – that there are deliberations and that everyone has an equal voice in them – and it means that every juror’s vote counts.

Those legislators also failed in their attempt to eviscerate our public defender system. Our Georgia Indigent Defense Act was passed in 2003 and funded in 2004. Upon its creation after passage of the Act, the GPDSC had the enormous task of bringing a new statewide agency into being. That included the creation of 43 circuit public defender offices, the Office of the Capital Defender, the Office of the Mental Health Advocate and the central office. The 2009 proposed legislation would have relegated the GPDSC to an advisory body and placed all responsibility for the public defender program in the hands of one person, the executive director of GPDSC, who serves at the pleasure of the governor. The passage of this legislation would have stripped the GPDSC of its independence and been a large step backwards for Georgia’s ability to provide lawyers for people accused of crimes who cannot afford lawyers.

We celebrate these wins today, but we remain steeled to fight these proposals when they resurface, which may be even as quickly as the summer and fall of 2009. But for now, no one will be sentenced to death in Georgia unless all 12 jurors agree; and there is still hope that our struggling public defender system will not be destroyed by its incompetent director, Mack Crawford.

SCHR is also quite proud to have successfully passed two proactive pieces of legislation that will aid re-entry for people coming out of prison. We secured one measure that will allow for people under mandatory minimum sentences to serve their final year in a work release program or transitional center. Currently, these individuals are required to serve every day of their sentence in a hard prison bed; upon sentence completion, they are then released directly into the community. The new legislation will dramatically help reduce recidivism for people who have completed very long sentences by providing them with much needed life and career skills to prepare them for living in the community after such long periods of incarceration. This will be particularly significant for those who were as young as 13 yet prosecuted and incarcerated as adults; this population faces extreme challenges in re-entry having grown-up inside prison, often having not completed high school and never having been employed.

Another measure SCHR implemented requires that the Georgia Department of Corrections provide pre-release planning for people in prison who are HIV+. We believe this legislation is a strong public health measure that will protect both the individuals coming in prison as well as their families at home waiting for them.

Unfortunately, we did not succeed in passing SB 157, which would have made significant strides in fixing the problems created by Georgia’s 2006 and subsequent sex offender legislation that has been under continuous scrutiny by the Courts. In 2010, our goal will be to restore the original language of SB 157 as it was introduced, and advocate for its passage into law. In the meantime, we will continue to challenge these laws in the Courts.

Bills Opposed by SCHR that DID NOT PASS in 2009:

Though these bills did not pass during the 2009 legislative session, they are still “alive” and eligible to be studied by committees this summer and considered in the 2010 session without being reintroduced.

HB 263: This legislation prohibits people with felony convictions from working in any job that requires service in homes such as plumbing, carpentry, personal care and much more. SCHR strongly opposed this legislation because it negatively impacts people coming out of prison from successful re-entry by dramatically limiting employment opportunities.

HB 295: The “Jail and Prison Reimbursement Act”. This legislation allows for the Department of Corrections to charge people in prison for costs associated with their incarceration, including room and board and medical care. SCHR strongly opposed this legislation because the gross majority of people in Georgia prisons cannot earn money so this burden will fall on the backs of their families. We also opposed this bill because requiring medical reimbursement fees is dangerous for the whole prison population and is hugely counterproductive to public health. Requiring medical reimbursement and daily per diem fees is counterproductive to effective reentry after incarceration.

HB 372: This legislation provides time frames for filing briefs and orders in petitions challenging for the first time state court proceedings that result in a death sentence. SCHR strongly opposed this legislation because it is particularly bad for Georgia’s handful of lawyers representing people with death sentences because they already carry large caseloads and are under very strict timelines on all their cases. This will only be exacerbated by pending budget cuts to the Georgia Appellate Resource Center, the office responsible for all of these cases. 

HB 571: This legislation is the House version of the sex offender registration “fixes”. The language in this is quite bad compared to that in SB 157; it includes bad language on loitering and homelessness, and it does not address the issue of elderly or infirmed people on the registry. This bill never received a hearing so did not pass, however SCHR will continue to monitor it as it could be amended to the content of SB 157 when that bill is considered in House Committee.

HB 619 and 622: These bills, introduced by a legislator who is also the CEO of Professional Probation Services, a private probation company, eviscerate the power and authority of the County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council. CMPAC is the body that regulates Georgia’s private probation industry. HB 622 limits the ability of CMPAC to void contracts of errant private probation companies or seize their records; HB 619 abolishes CMPAC altogether. SCHR strongly opposed this legislation because the private probation industry needs far more regulation not less, and because of the inherent conflict of interest held by the sponsor of the bill and private probation company CEO.

Other bills monitored by SCHR that passed in 2009:

HB 123: This bill redefines child molestation to include “in the presence of a child” to include indirect communication such as on the phone or internet.

HB 226: Gives credit for time served in Probation Detention Centers while waiting for placement in a state prison. GDC Bill. Companion bill to SB 65.

HB 464: Allows for deductions from an inmate account for the payment of certain medication, does not apply to those with chronic conditions, pregnancy, or mental illness. Additionally, the bill states that private medical facilities will be reimbursed no more than the Medicare rate by the GDC for emergency medical care of people in prison.

HB 575: Redefines kidnapping in response to Garza decision.

SB 13: Allows for the imposition of a Life Without Parole sentence for a person convicted of murder independently of a death penalty prosecution.

SB 14: Prohibits anyone on the sex offender registry from being eligible to run in a local school board election.

SB 24: Creates levels and probation options for various probation violations.

SB 65: Gives credit for time served in Probation Detention Centers while waiting for placement in a state prison. GDC Bill. Companion bill to HB 226.

SB 151: Allows for Victim Impact Statements to be in the form of a written statement, an audiotaped or videotaped statement, a teleconference, or a statement made via speakerphone with an attorney’s verification of the speaker’s identity. Photographs of the victim may also be included with any evidence presented.