Georgia law that allows an officer to sit in on the entire hearing and make a statement that the jury can not question faces change by the legislators.
According to Las Vegas Sun, Georgia law requires a police officer to have an advance notification of his case hearing. The law allows the officer inside the court house where the case hearing is in place. He could also sit in the whole proceeding and give unquestionable statement at the end.
Local citizens criticize this law as it gives officers privilege inside the court that any ordinary person does not have. Police officers in other states do not have that kind of privilege when it comes to their case hearings. As a result, legislators in Georgia filed a proposal to change this law.
On the proposal, the police officer could still testify, however, he could not hear the testimonies of the witnesses. He would also be subjected to questioning by the grand jurors and district attorney. With this new proposal, the prosecutors could also give rebuttal evidences.
On Abc News report, Prosecuting Attorney's Council of Georgia executive director Chuck Spahos said that Georgia is the only state that has this kind of law. He also added that in some other states, the officer could be a witness and be questioned by the jurors but could not sit on the entire hearing.
Last March 9, a white police officer shot a naked and mentally ill black veteran in an Atlanta suburb. He was allowed to sit on his case hearing and did not face cross examination by the grand jurors. According to the report, Robert Olsen was a DeKalb County police officer when he allegedly shot Anthony Hill when he responded to a call referring to the latter behaving erratically in an Atlanta apartment complex.
District Attorney Robert James felt that it was profoundly unfair and has to change, although, he won the indictment against Robert Olsen. He also said that the Georgia law only gives the officer a chance to alter his statement over the evidences. In addition to that, the officer's attorney could have an advantage when the case goes to trial.
Georgia State University professor and former federal prosecutor Caren Morrison said that the proceeding is one- sided and should not be heard by the accused, according to a report from Fox News. She added that this could raise issues regarding favoritism and impropriety as there is a common perception that prosecutors does not try their best to indict police officers.
However, the executive director of Georgia Southern States Police Benevolent Association division, Joe Stiles said that a police officer's perception is different from witnesses and they could explain their actions. He also added that the process of the grand jury was meant to conclude if there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
