Georgia Supremes Consider Practical Problems of Banishment
A Georgia Supreme Court justice asked lawyers how a defendant banished from all but one county could travel to that location upon his release from prison.
If you’re banished to one central county, how do you get there?” asked Justice Harris Hines. “If you’re banished, you’re banished.”
Another justice helpfully suggested that defendant Gregory Mac Terry could fly to his new location, but Hines countered that some rural areas don’t have airports, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Terry’s lawyer, McNeill Stokes, argued his client’s confinement to one county amounted to a de facto banishment in violation of the state constitution. A judge ordered the banishment after Terry violated a protective order by visiting his wife and ordering her to go for a drive while holding a scissors to her throat, according to the Fulton County Daily Report.
A lawyer for the state argued the banishment was a reasonable measure to protect Terry’s wife. But the state’s brief conceded that past decisions have said trial judges violate separation of powers principles by setting conditions on parole, which are within the jurisdiction of the executive branch’s parole board, the Fulton County Daily Report says.
