Staff Analysis of the Legislation
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HB 562 amends Article 3 of Chapter 4 of Title 17 of the OCGA to add Division of Family and Child Services (DFCS) case managers to the list of individuals for whom arrest warrants may only be issued by judges of a superior court, state court, or probate court. The bill additionally allows for a prosecutor, in any criminal case in which there is a jury trial, to move for a change of venue in writing should the prosecutor determine that an impartial jury cannot be obtained in the county where the alleged crime was committed and either a previous prosecutor has recused himself or herself, been disqualified, or been removed from the cause for cause, or a local government official has publicly released prejudicial information that has the potential to taint the local jury pool. The judge has the discretion to transfer the case to any county that is agreed upon by both the defendant and prosecutor.
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