Legislation that would limit Georgia police officers' ability to influence the outcome of grand jury proceedings gained final approval on Thursday.
House Bill 941 now goes to Gov. Nathan Deal's desk. The bill aims to curtail some of the most generous legal privileges afforded to officers anywhere in the country. Georgia law currently allows officers accused of possible crimes to sit in the grand jury hearing, listen to all the evidence against them and make a statement at the end that can't be questioned or challenged by prosecutors.
No other state allows such broad and favorable privileges for officers who appear before a grand jury to face possible charges.
Under HB 941, police officers who face possible charges in a shooting case could offer a statement to grand jurors but would not be allowed to stay in the grand jury room and would face cross-examination.
Critics of the proposal say it doesn't go far enough to erase a legal double-standard that has allowed Georgia officers to escape prosecution for years. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News investigation in December identified 171 fatal police shootings of Georgia citizens since 2010 without any officer facing prosecution.
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