GEORGIA CODE (Last Updated: August 20, 2013)
Title 24. EVIDENCE
Chapter 5. PRIVILEGES
Section 24-5-502. Communications to clergyman privileged
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Every communication made by any person professing religious faith, seeking spiritual comfort, or seeking counseling to any Protestant minister of the Gospel, any priest of the Roman Catholic faith, any priest of the Greek Orthodox Catholic faith, any Jewish rabbi, or any Christian or Jewish minister or similar functionary, by whatever name called, shall be deemed privileged. No such minister, priest, rabbi, or similar functionary shall disclose any communications made to him or her by any such person professing religious faith, seeking spiritual guidance, or seeking counseling, nor shall such minister, priest, rabbi, or similar functionary be competent or compellable to testify with reference to any such communication in any court.
Code 1981, § 24-5-502, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24.
GEORGIA CODE (Last Updated: August 20, 2013)
Title 42. PENAL INSTITUTIONS
Chapter 4. JAILS
Article 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 42-4-13. Possession of drugs, weapons, or alcohol by inmates
· (a) As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) "Alcoholic beverage" means and includes all alcohol, distilled spirits, beer, malt beverage, wine, or fortified wine.
(2) "Controlled substance" means a drug, substance, or immediate precursor as defined in Code Section 16-13-21.
(3) "Dangerous drug" has the same meaning as defined by Code Section 16-13-71.
(4) "Jail" means any county jail, municipal jail, or any jail or detention facility operated by a county, municipality, or a regional jail authority as authorized under Article 5 of this chapter.
(5) "Jailer" means the sheriff in the case of any county jail, or the chief of police if the jail is under the supervision of the chief of police of a municipality, or the warden, captain, administrator, superintendent, or other officer having supervision of any other jail, or the designee of such officer.
(b) (1) It shall be unlawful for an inmate of a jail to possess any controlled substance, dangerous drug, gun, pistol, or other dangerous weapon or marijuana.
(2) Any person who violates paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned for not less than one nor more than five years.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, possession of a controlled substance, a dangerous drug, or marijuana shall be punished as provided in Chapter 13 of Title 16; provided, however, that the provisions of Code Section 16-13-2 shall not apply to a violation of paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(4) The provisions of this subsection shall not prohibit the lawful use or dispensing of a controlled substance or dangerous drug to an inmate with the knowledge and consent of the jailer when such use or dispensing is lawful under the provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 16.
(c) (1) Unless otherwise authorized by law, it shall be unlawful for an inmate of a jail to possess any alcoholic beverage.
(2) Any person who violates paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(d) (1) (A) It shall be unlawful for any person to come inside the guard lines established at any jail with, or to give or have delivered to an inmate of a jail, any controlled substance, dangerous drug, marijuana, or any gun, pistol, or other dangerous weapon without the knowledge and consent of the jailer or a law enforcement officer.
(B) It shall be unlawful for any person to come inside the guard lines established at any jail with, or to give or have delivered to an inmate of a jail, any alcoholic beverage without the knowledge and consent of the jailer or a law enforcement officer; provided, however, that the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to nor prohibit the use of an alcoholic beverage by a clergyman or priest in sacramental services only.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection, any person who violates subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned for not less than one nor more than five years. Any person who violates subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection, the possession, possession with intent to distribute, trafficking, or distribution of a controlled substance or marijuana shall be punished as provided in Chapter 13 of Title 16; provided, however, that the provisions of Code Section 16-13-2 shall not apply to a violation of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(e) It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain, to procure for, or to give to an inmate, or to bring within the guard lines, any other article or item without the knowledge and consent of the jailer or a law enforcement officer. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(f) (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to come inside the guard lines or be within any jail while under the influence of a controlled substance, dangerous drug, or marijuana without the knowledge and consent of the jailer or a law enforcement officer unless such person has a valid prescription for such controlled substance or dangerous drug issued by a person licensed under Chapter 11 or 34 of Title 43 and such prescribed substance is consumed only as authorized by the prescription. Any person convicted of a violation of this subsection shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than four years.
(2) It shall be unlawful for any person to come inside the guard lines or be within any jail while under the influence of alcohol without the knowledge and consent of the jailer or a law enforcement officer. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(g) It shall be unlawful for any person to loiter where inmates are assigned after having been ordered by the jailer or a law enforcement officer to desist therefrom. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(h) It shall be unlawful for any person to attempt, conspire, or solicit another to commit any offense defined by this Code section and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation.
(i) Any violation of this Code section shall constitute a separate offense.
(j) Perimeter guard lines shall be established at every jail by the jailer thereof. Such guard lines shall be clearly marked by signs on which shall be plainly stamped or written: "Guard line of ." Signs shall also be placed at all entrances and exits for vehicles and pedestrians at the jail and at such intervals along the guard lines as will reasonably place all persons approaching the guard lines on notice of the location of the jail.
Code 1981, § 42-4-13, enacted by Ga. L. 1987, p. 611, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 630, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 648, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 42.
GEORGIA CODE (Last Updated: August 20, 2013)
Title 24. EVIDENCE
Chapter 8. HEARSAY
Article 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 24-8-803. Hearsay rule exceptions; availability of declarant immaterial
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Latest version.
· The following shall not be excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:
(1) Present sense impression. A statement describing or explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition or immediately thereafter;
(2) Excited utterance. A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition;
(3) Then existing mental, emotional, or physical condition. A statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition, such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain, and bodily health, but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed unless such statements relate to the execution, revocation, identification, or terms of the declarant's will and not including a statement of belief as to the intent of another person;
(4) Statements for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment. Statements made for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment and describing medical history, or past or present symptoms, pain, or sensations, or the inception or general character of the cause or external source thereof insofar as reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment;
(5) Recorded recollection. A memorandum or record concerning a matter about which a witness once had knowledge but now has insufficient recollection to enable the witness to testify fully and accurately shown to have been made or adopted by the witness when the matter was fresh in the witness's memory and to reflect that knowledge correctly. If admitted, the memorandum or record may be read into evidence but shall not itself be received as an exhibit unless offered by an adverse party;
(6) Records of regularly conducted activity. Unless the source of information or the method or circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness and subject to the provisions of Chapter 7 of this title, a memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, in any form, of acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses, if (A) made at or near the time of the described acts, events, conditions, opinions, or diagnoses; (B) made by, or from information transmitted by, a person with personal knowledge and a business duty to report; (C) kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity; and (D) it was the regular practice of that business activity to make the memorandum, report, record, or data compilation, all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness or by certification that complies with paragraph (11) or (12) of Code Section 24-9-902 or by any other statute permitting certification. The term "business" as used in this paragraph includes any business, institution, association, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit. Public records and reports shall be admissible under paragraph (8) of this Code section and shall not be admissible under this paragraph;
(7) Absence of entry in records kept in accordance with paragraph (6) of this Code section. Evidence that a matter is not included in the memoranda, reports, records, or data compilations, in any form, kept in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (6) of this Code section, to prove the nonoccurrence or nonexistence of the matter, if the matter was of a kind of which a memorandum, report, record, or data compilation was regularly made and preserved, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness;
(8) Public records and reports. Except as otherwise provided by law, public records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices, setting forth:
(A) The activities of the public office;
(B) Matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report, excluding, however, against the accused in criminal proceedings, matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel in connection with an investigation; or
(C) In civil proceedings and against the state in criminal proceedings, factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness;
(9) Records of vital statistics. Records or data compilations, in any form, of births, fetal deaths, deaths, or marriages, if the report thereof was made to a public office pursuant to requirements of law;
(10) Absence of public record or entry. To prove the absence of a record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, or the nonoccurrence or nonexistence of a matter of which a record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, was regularly made and preserved by a public office, evidence in the form of a certification in accordance with Code Section 24-9-902, or testimony, that diligent search failed to disclose the record, report, statement, or data compilation, or entry;
(11) Records of religious organizations. Statements of birth, marriages, divorces, deaths, legitimacy, ancestry, relationship by blood or marriage, or other similar facts of personal or family history, contained in a regularly kept record of a religious organization;
(12) Marriage, baptismal, and similar certificates. Statements of fact contained in a certificate that the maker performed a marriage or other ceremony or administered a sacrament, made by a clergyman, public official, or other person authorized by the rules or practices of a religious organization or by law to perform the act certified and purporting to have been issued at the time of the act or within a reasonable time thereafter;
(13) Family records. Statements of fact concerning personal or family history contained in family Bibles, genealogies, charts, engravings on rings, inscriptions on family portraits, engravings on urns, crypts, or tombstones, or the like;
(14) Records of documents affecting an interest in property. The record of a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property, as proof of the content of the original recorded document and its execution and delivery by each person by whom it purports to have been executed, if the record is a record of a public office and an applicable law authorizes the recording of documents of that kind in such office;
(15) Statements in documents affecting an interest in property. A statement contained in a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property if the matter stated was relevant to the purpose of the document, unless dealings with the property since the document was made have been inconsistent with the truth of the statement or the purport of the document;
(16) Statements in ancient documents. Statements in a document in existence 20 years or more the authenticity of which is established;
(17) Market reports and commercial publications. Market quotations, tabulations, lists, directories, or other published compilations generally used and relied upon by the public or by persons in the witness's particular occupation;
(18) Learned treatises. To the extent called to the attention of an expert witness upon cross-examination, statements contained in published treatises, periodicals, or pamphlets, whether published electronically or in print, on a subject of history, medicine, or other science or art, established as a reliable authority by the testimony or admission of the witness, by other expert testimony, or by judicial notice. If admitted, the statements may be used for cross-examination of an expert witness and read into evidence but shall not be received as exhibits;
(19) Reputation concerning personal or family history. Reputation among members of a person's family by blood, adoption, or marriage or among a person's associates or in the community concerning a person's birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, death, legitimacy, relationship by blood, adoption, or marriage, ancestry, or other similar fact of the person's personal or family history;
(20) Reputation concerning boundaries or general history. Reputation in a community, arising before the controversy, as to boundaries of or customs affecting lands in the community and reputation as to events of general history important to the community or state or nation in which such lands are located;
(21) Reputation as to character. Reputation of a person's character among associates or in the community;
(22) Judgment of previous conviction. Evidence of a final judgment, entered after a trial or upon a plea of guilty but not upon a plea of nolo contendere, adjudging a person guilty of a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year to prove any fact essential to sustain the judgment, but not including, when offered by the state in a criminal prosecution for purposes other than impeachment, judgments against persons other than the accused. The pendency of an appeal may be shown but shall not affect admissibility; or
(23) Judgment as to personal, family, or general history or boundaries. Judgments as proof of matters of personal, family, or general history or boundaries essential to the judgment, if the same would be provable by evidence of reputation.
Code 1981, § 24-8-803, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24.
Georgia Rules (Last Updated: March 14,2014)
CHAPTER 125. BOARD OF CORRECTIONS
Chapter 125-4. INSTITUTIONAL, CENTER, AND PROGRAM SERVICES
Part 125-4-7. RELIGION
125-4-7-.03 Visiting Clergy.
(1) With the concurrence of the Warden/Superintendent, and Consistent with inmate and institutional needs, outside clergymen or guest speakers, recognized for their concern with religious matters, may be invited or authorized to conduct religious services for those inmates professing belief in that particular faith.
(2) Invitations to guest clergymen or other religious personalities shall be issued by the Chaplain or a representative designated by the Warden/Superintendent. Invitations shall require the concurrence of the Warden/Superintendent and shall clearly define the parameters of the visit to include restriction to religious matters, limitations of movement in the institution, etc. Special written authorization shall be required before any visiting clergyman or speaker is permitted to participate in any activity or procedure not specifically authorized in the invitation:
(a) Religious literature and related material which a visiting clergyman or guest speaker proposes to distribute shall be submitted to the institution in advance in order to avoid any inference of contraband entering the institution by this means.
(b) Visiting clergymen and guest speakers shall confine their religious activities while in the institution to those inmates who have professed a belief in the faith the visitor represents prior to their incarceration; provided, however, that upon written request an inmate shall be permitted to visit with a visiting clergyman or guest speaker regardless of the inmate's faith prior to incarceration. All visits are subject to reasonable restrictions consistent with institutional needs. Inmates who have not professed a belief in the faith the visitor represents prior to their incarceration may voluntarily attend religious services, but the visitor shall not initiate an attempt to convert such an inmate to the visitor's belief. A security officer should visit the service and he may record the presentation. Proper security, supervision and conduct shall be maintained during the service.
(c) Visiting clergymen and religious guests are subject to all rules, regulations, procedures and directives of the State Board of Corrections as well as to those of the institution which they are authorized to visit.
(3) Should a visiting clergyman wish to interview an inmate(s), he (she) shall be required to follow established institutional procedures, including those designed for the security of the institution and the safety of the individual concerned
Authority Ga. Constitution 1983, Art. XI, Sec. I, Par. (b); Ga. L. 1956, pp. 161, 170; 1969, p. 598; 1956, pp. 161, 171; 1956, pp. 161, 174 (O.C.G.A. 42-2-11); Ga. L. 1964, pp. 491, 492; 1970, pp. 318, 319 (O.C.G.A. 42-5-53); Ga. L. 1972, p. 838 (O.C.G.A. 42-10-2); Ga. L. 1956, pp. 161, 178 (O.C.G.A. 42-2- 11); Ga. L. 1964, pp. 734, 735 (O.C.G.A. 42-5-57); Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1399, 1403 (O.C.G.A. 42-5-51). Administrative History. Rule, entitled "Visiting Clergy," filed as Rule 415-4-7-.03 on November 14, 1984; effective December 4, 1984, renumbered as Rule 125-4-7-.03. Filed June 28, 1985; effective July 20, 1985, as specified by the Agency.
