SB 244: Criminal Proceedings; the award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs in a criminal case to the defendant upon such defendant making a successful motion to disqualify the prosecuting attorney for misconduct in connection with the case; provide

This bill does two main things. First, it adds a new Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 17-11-6) letting a criminal defendant collect reasonable attorney's fees and costs when the prosecuting attorney is disqualified for misconduct and the case is later dismissed by the court or a new prosecutor. The defendant must ask for fees within 45 days, and the fees come out of the local prosecutor's office budget. Second, the bill creates the 'Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Act,' a new process letting people who were wrongly convicted of a felony in Georgia and served time file a compensation claim with the Office of State Administrative Hearings. Judges there decide eligibility and award money: $75,000 per year of wrongful incarceration, plus $25,000 per year on death row, legal fees, and reimbursement of fines paid. Awards come from a new state trust fund, subject to legislative appropriation. Most of the bill takes effect July 1, 2025, but the attorney's fee provision takes effect on the Governor's signature and applies to pending cases.

• Creates a new right for criminal defendants to recover attorney's fees and costs when a prosecutor is disqualified for misconduct and the case is later dismissed.
• Requires such fee motions to be filed within 45 days of the case ending and paid from the local prosecutor's office budget.
• Establishes a formal wrongful conviction compensation program run by administrative law judges at the Office of State Administrative Hearings.
• Sets compensation at $75,000 per year of wrongful incarceration (plus $25,000 per year on death row), legal fees, and reimbursement of fines, restitution, or fees paid.
• Creates the Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Trust Fund to pay these awards, with large awards paid out over three years.
• Requires courts and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to give exonerated individuals a copy of the new compensation law and get a signed acknowledgment.

Criminal defendants and their attorneys, county-funded district attorney and solicitor-general offices, people who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned in Georgia, the Attorney General's office, the Office of State Administrative Hearings, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the state treasury.

Defendants harmed by prosecutorial misconduct could recoup legal costs rather than absorb them personally, while county prosecutor budgets would bear that cost. People later proven innocent would gain a defined path and formula to seek money for lost years, instead of relying on case-by-case legislative action.

• Section 1-1 adds O.C.G.A. § 17-11-6, awarding attorney's fees to defendants when a disqualified prosecutor's misconduct leads to case dismissal, with a 45 day filing deadline.
• Section 2-1 creates a new Chapter 22 in Title 17 establishing the Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Act and defining key terms like 'claimant' and 'Alford plea.'
• O.C.G.A. § 17-22-4 sets filing deadlines, generally three years after acknowledgment of the new law, with extensions for newly discovered evidence of innocence.
• O.C.G.A. § 17-22-5 requires claimants to prove by a preponderance of evidence they did not commit the crime and that their conviction was reversed, vacated, or pardoned based on innocence.
• O.C.G.A. § 17-22-7 sets compensation amounts: $75,000 per year incarcerated, an extra $25,000 per year on death row, attorney's fees, and reimbursement of fines or restitution paid.
• O.C.G.A. § 17-22-9 creates the Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Trust Fund and requires legislative appropriation before any award over $1.5 million is paid, spread over three fiscal years.
• Section 2-2 bars the Claims Advisory Board from hearing wrongful conviction claims, routing them exclusively through the new administrative process.
• Section 3-1 sets most of the Act effective July 1, 2025, but makes the prosecutor-disqualification fee provision effective on the Governor's signature and applicable to pending cases.

1. 2025-07-01Effective Date
2. 2025-05-14Act 361
3. 2025-05-14Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-04-04Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
6. 2025-04-02House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-04-02House Third Readers (House)
8. 2025-03-28House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• Brandon Beach (R, SD-21)Primary sponsor
• John Albers (R, SD-56)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-13)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-19)
• Ed Setzler (R, SD-37)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-24)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-3)
• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-27)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-49)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-16)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-42)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
• Chuck Martin (R, HD-49)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2025

   55 yea, 0 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)

   PASSAGE AS AMENDED: Senate Vote #214

2. PassedHouse voteApril 2, 2025

   103 yea, 61 nay (2 not voting, 14 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #392

3. PassedSenate voteApril 4, 2025

   35 yea, 18 nay (0 not voting, 3 excused)

   AGREE TO HOUSE SUBSTITUTE: Senate Vote #471

• wrongful conviction compensation
• prosecutorial misconduct
• criminal justice reform
• attorney's fees
• state trust funds