---
title: O.C.G.A. § 15-10-261. Waiver of jury trial.
collection: code
id: 15-10-261
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 15-10-261 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-10-261
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-10-261.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-10-261/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t15-ch1-11a-(v13)-2020-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=d8a8826c_0#page=612
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-10.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-10-260.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-10-262.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: COURTS / MAGISTRATE COURTS / TRIALS OF CERTAIN MISDEMEANORS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 15-10-261. Waiver of jury trial.

There shall be no jury trials in the magistrate court. A magistrate court shall not have the power to dispose of the misdemeanor offenses enumerated in subsection (a) of Code Section 15-10-260 unless the defendant shall first waive in writing a trial by jury. If the defendant does not waive a trial by jury, the defendant shall notify the court and, if probable cause exists, the defendant shall be immediately bound over to a court in the county having jurisdiction to try the offense wherein a jury may be impaneled.

## History

Code 1981, § 15-10-261, enacted by Ga. L. 2000, p. 1155, § 3.