The House Committee on Judiciary, Non-Civil offers the following substitute to HB 237:
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 4 of Title 24 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
relevant evidence and its limits, so as to provide for the admissibility of creative or artistic
expression evidence at trial; to provide for a definition; to provide for the presumption of
inadmissibility; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 4 of Title 24 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to relevant evidence
and its limits, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:
<ins>"24-4-420.
(a) As used in this Code section, the term 'creative or artistic expression' means the
expression or application of creativity or imagination in the production or arrangement of
forms, sounds, words, movements, or symbols. Such term shall include music, dance,
performance art, visual art, poetry, literature, film, and other such activities or media, but
shall not include hand signs used to indicate membership in a criminal street gang, as
defined in Code Section 16-15-3, and tattoos.
</ins>
<ins>(b) Evidence of a defendant's creative or artistic expression, whether original or derivative,
shall not be admitted into evidence against such defendant in a criminal proceeding unless
such evidence is determined by the court to be relevant and admissible after an offer of
proof by the proponent of the evidence outside the hearing of a jury, or such hearing as the
court may require, and a statement by the court regarding the findings of fact essential to
its determination of admissibility is made part of the record. To overcome the presumption
of inadmissibility of evidence of the defendant's creative or artistic expression, the
proponent of the evidence shall affirmatively prove by a preponderance of evidence that:
(1) The defendant adopted the literal meaning of the work as the defendant's own thought
or statement;
(2) There is a specific fact pattern indicating that the creative or artistic expression refers
to specific facts of the crime alleged; and
(3) There exists relevance to an issue of fact that is disputed.
(c) Where the court admits creative or artistic expression as criminal evidence, the court
shall apply careful redactions, provide proper instructions, and consider the least prejudicial
means of presenting the creative or artistic expression.
(d) Evidence admitted pursuant to this Code section is still subject to other rules of
evidence under the Official Code of Georgia Annotated."
</ins> SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.