---
title: O.C.G.A. § 17-11-2. Liability of defendant for costs of witnesses.
collection: code
id: 17-11-2
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 17-11-2 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-11-2
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-11-2.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-11-2/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t17-(v15)-2020-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=8c04ccfe_0#page=1282
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/17-11.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-11-1.md
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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: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE / ASSESSMENT AND PAYMENT OF COSTS OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 17-11-2. Liability of defendant for costs of witnesses.

No defendant shall be liable for the costs of any witness of the state, unless such witness was subpoenaed, sworn, and examined during the trial, nor for the costs of more than two witnesses testifying on the same point, unless the court shall certify that the question at issue was of such a character as to require the testimony of more than two witnesses.

## History

Laws 1799, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 277; Code 1863, § 3608; Code 1868, § 3632; Code 1873, § 3682; Code 1882, § 3682; Penal Code 1895, § 1079; Penal Code 1910, § 1106; Code 1933, § 27-2802.

## Law Reviews

For article on whether one’s property is forfeited after a conviction based on a nolo contendere plea, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 723 (1979).