---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-3-40. Alibi.
collection: code
id: 16-3-40
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-3-40 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-3-40
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-3-40.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-3-40/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch1-6-(v14)-2019-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=af47a366_0#page=349
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.
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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: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / DEFENSES TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS / ALIBI
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-3-40. Alibi.

The defense of alibi involves the impossibility of the accused’s presence at the scene of the offense at the time of its commission. The range of the evidence in respect to time and place must be such as reasonably to exclude the possibility of presence.

## History

Penal Code 1895, § 992; Penal Code 1910, § 1018; Code 1933, § 38-122.

## Law Reviews

For note discussing Smith v. Smith, 454 F.2d 572 (5th Cir. 1971), rehearing and rehearing en banc denied February 1, 1972, see 23 Mercer L. Rev. 977 (1972).

For comment on Parham v. State, 120 Ga. App. 723, 171 S.E.2d 911 (1969) and the rejection of charge that defendant must prove alibi to the satisfaction of the jury, see 21 Mercer L. Rev. 511 (1970). For comment on Bassett v. Smith, 464 F.2d 347 (5th Cir. 1972), refusing to apply decision holding Georgia’s alibi instruction unconstitutional retroactively, see 9 Ga. St. B. J. 500 (1973).