---
title: O.C.G.A. § 17-7-90. Issuance of bench warrant; execution; receiving bail, fixing bond, and approving sureties.
collection: code
id: 17-7-90
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 17-7-90 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-7-90
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-7-90.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-7-90/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t17-(v15)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6c4dfdf8_0#page=75
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/17-7.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-7-73.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-7-91.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: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE / PRETRIAL PROCEEDINGS / ARRAIGNMENT AND PLEAS GENERALLY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 17-7-90. Issuance of bench warrant; execution; receiving bail, fixing bond, and approving sureties.

(a) A bench warrant may be issued by a judge for the arrest of a person:

(1) Accused of a crime by a grand jury;

(2) Except as otherwise provided in Code Section 17-6-11, charged with a crime who has failed to appear in court after:

(A) Actual notice of the time and place to appear to the person in open court;

(B) Notice of the time and place to appear to the person by mailing a notice to such person’s last known address; or

(C) The person has otherwise been notified of the time and place to appear personally, in writing, by a court official or officer of the court;

(3) Charged with a crime upon the filing by the prosecutor of an accusation supported by affidavit; or

(4) Who failed to dispose of his or her charges, schedule a new date to appear before the court, make an appearance in court, or waive arraignment and plead not guilty after the expiration of the 30 day period set forth in subsection (b) of Code Section 17-6-11.

(b) Every officer is bound to execute a bench warrant within his or her jurisdiction, and every person so arrested shall be committed to jail until bail is tendered. Any judicial officer or the sheriff of the county where the charge was returned may receive the bail, fix the amount of the bond, and approve the sureties unless it is a case that is bailable only before some particular judicial officer.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 4608; Code 1868, § 4630; Code 1873, § 4727; Code 1882, § 4727; Penal Code 1895, § 932; Penal Code 1910, § 957; Code 1933, § 27-801; Ga. L. 1989, p. 623, § 2; Ga. L. 2004, p. 631, § 17; Ga. L. 2017, p. 608, § 2/SB 176; Ga. L. 2024, p. 560, § 5/HB 926, effective May 2, 2024.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2024, p. 560, § 1/HB 926, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Second Chance Workforce Act.’”

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective May 2, 2024, inserted “, schedule a new date to appear before the court, make an appearance in court,” in paragraph (a)(4).