Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

In the State of GA, there is a" 1st Offender Act" for a 1st time felony charge and a 1st time felony drug charge (O.C.G.A. 16-13-2 a,c). Is a Superior Court Judge permitted to use his discretion as to which drugs apply and don't apply for a defendant asking for 1st offender treatment on a 1st time felony drug charge??

(A Superior Court Judge is said to have denied the 1st offender treatment O.C.G.A. 16-13-2 a,c- to any defendant that is charged with a 1st time felony drug charge for all other drugs EXCEPT marijuana in Henry Cty, GA) The other Henry Cty Superior Court Judges do not do this in their Court rooms with these types of cases- wouldn't this be considered "discrimination" of some sort? This is WRONG. If anyone who is willing to take the challenge in finding an answer for this, could you please also cite the O.C.G.A. annotation(s) for this?? PLEASE? Thank You-


Asked on 4/29/14, 3:46 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Glen Ashman Ashman Law Office also dba Glen Ashman Attorney

First offender status is in the complete discretion of the court. A judge can choose when and if to use it and there is no requirement that he do the same as other judges in your court.

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Answered on 4/29/14, 8:44 pm
Lawrence Lewis Lawrence Lewis, P.C.

There is no challenge in the question. The judge has absolute discretion in granting or denying first offender, except the judge CANNOT establish a policy of never granted a particular class of offenses ineligible. So, there may be some appeal, IF you can meet the challenge of getting the money to retain an attorney. See website for info on retaining the right attorney: http://www.lawrencelewispc.com/pages.php?go=pinfo&PID=38

Good luck

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Answered on 5/01/14, 10:22 am


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