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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 16. CRIMES AND OFFENSES · Chapter 8. OFFENSES INVOLVING THEFT · Article 1. THEFT

16-8-10. Affirmative defenses to prosecution for violation of Code Sections 16-8-2 through 16-8-9.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution for violation of Code Sections 16-8-2 through 16-8-9 that the person:

  2. (1)

    Was unaware that the property or service was that of another;#

  3. (2)

    Acted under an honest claim of right to the property or service involved;#

  4. (3)

    Acted under a right to acquire or dispose of the property as he or she did; provided, however, that the use of a power of attorney as provided in Chapter 6B of Title 10 shall not, in and of itself, absolve a person from criminal responsibility; or#

  5. (4)

    Took property or service exposed for sale intending to purchase and pay for it promptly or reasonably believing that the owner, if present, would have consented.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1933, § 26-1810, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 2017, p. 435, § 3-2/HB 221.

Other notes

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, substituted ‘‘16-8-9’’ for ‘‘16-8-7’’ in the introductory paragraph; substituted the present provisions of paragraph (2) for the former provisions, which read: ‘‘Acted under an honest claim of right to the property or service involved or under a right to acquire or dispose of it as he did; or’’; added present paragraph (3); and redesignated former paragraph (3) as present paragraph (4).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t16-ch7-11-(v14a)-2018-pdf.pdf, Volume V14A, 2018 edition, pages 270 to 271; merge action: carried; file SHA-256 5985d65f23ef.