Record restriction, the Georgia term for what used to be called expungement, limits public access to certain criminal history records without destroying them. A restricted record is sealed from employers, landlords, and the general public, though law enforcement and courts can still see it. Several categories of records qualify.

People who were never convicted are in the strongest position. Arrests that ended in a dismissal, dropped charges, or an acquittal can generally be restricted, and for many arrests after mid-2013 the restriction happens automatically or on request. Successfully completed first offender sentences also lead to restriction, since they end without a conviction.

A 2021 change widened the door considerably. Under Georgia’s Second Chance Act, a person may now petition a court to restrict and seal up to two misdemeanor convictions over a lifetime, provided they have completed the sentence, have gone at least four years without a new conviction, and have no pending charges. Pardoned felony convictions also became eligible for restriction through the same reforms.

Important limits remain. Felony convictions generally cannot be restricted unless they are first pardoned, and the misdemeanor path excludes a substantial list of offenses, including DUI, family violence crimes, sexual offenses, and offenses against minors. Serious violent felonies stay on the record. The practical effect of the 2021 expansion is that a single old misdemeanor no longer has to follow a person forever, but the eligibility rules are detailed enough that whether a particular record qualifies usually has to be checked offense by offense.

Confidential informants supply much of the intelligence behind Georgia drug investigations, and their involvement raises distinct reliability concerns. Many informants are working off their own pending charges or being paid, which gives them a personal stake in producing results that a jury and a defense attorney will want to examine. Police rely on them to develop cases that would be hard to build otherwise.

Informants serve several investigative functions. They make controlled buys under police supervision, gather intelligence about a suspected operation, and provide the information used to establish probable cause for a search warrant. Each of these roles places the informant’s credibility at the center of the resulting case.

The defense often focuses on the informant. Because an informant’s motive to lie or exaggerate can be strong, the defense probes their criminal history, the benefits they were promised, and any inconsistencies in their account. An informant who expects charges to disappear in exchange for cooperation has an obvious incentive to deliver what investigators want to hear.

Disclosure is a recurring battleground. The state has an interest in protecting an informant’s identity, while the accused has a right to confront the witnesses and evidence against them, and courts balance these competing concerns case by case. On the other side, informants who provide substantial assistance can earn reduced sentences in their own matters, a reward that both motivates cooperation and gives the defense a reason to question it. Cases that rest heavily on an unnamed informant can prove fragile, since once the informant’s incentives and record come to light, the reliability of everything they reported is fairly open to challenge.

Aggravated assault in Georgia elevates an ordinary assault into a serious felony based on how the assault is carried out or what the attacker intends. The offense applies when a person commits an assault in any of these ways:

• With the intent to murder, to rape, or to rob.
• With a deadly weapon, or any object likely to cause serious bodily injury when used offensively.
• With an object likely to result in strangulation.
• By discharging a firearm from within a vehicle toward a person.

A conviction generally carries one to twenty years in prison.

The weapon element is broad. A deadly weapon includes obvious examples like a gun or knife, but it also covers everyday objects used in a way likely to cause serious injury, so a bottle, a tool, or a vehicle can qualify depending on how it is used. The focus is on the manner of use rather than the object itself.

Certain victims and circumstances increase the punishment. Strangulation is written directly into the statute, and an aggravated assault committed against a police officer, an elderly person, a public transit worker, or in a family violence context can carry an enhanced sentence above the standard range.

Intent is judged by conduct, not by an unspoken state of mind. The law looks at what the person did and the natural consequences of those actions rather than requiring proof of a secret plan, which means using a weapon in a dangerous way can establish the offense on its own. What a person experiences as a heated argument can become an aggravated assault the moment a weapon is introduced. From that point the conduct is measured by the danger it presents, and a sincere belief that the situation was not that serious offers no protection.

Battery and assault are distinct crimes in Georgia, and the difference comes down to physical contact. Battery requires actual contact that harms or offends, while assault involves an attempt to injure or a threat that puts another in reasonable fear of immediate harm, with no touching required. The same confrontation can involve one, the other, or both.

Assault is the broader of the two in one sense, because it needs no physical contact at all. A person commits assault by attempting a violent injury or by acting in a way that places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving one, so a raised fist or a lunge can be enough even if the blow never lands.

Battery covers the contact itself. Simple battery involves intentionally making physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature, or causing physical harm, while the related battery offense requires causing visible or substantial bodily harm. A shove that offends and a punch that bruises sit at different points along that line.

Both crimes scale with their circumstances. Each can be a misdemeanor in its basic form, but aggravating facts raise the level: a weapon, a serious or disfiguring injury, or a protected victim can turn an assault into aggravated assault or a battery into aggravated battery, both felonies carrying years in prison. The practical lesson is that the labels are not interchangeable, and a charging decision often hinges on whether contact occurred and how much harm it caused, so the same shoving match can produce a battery charge for the person who made contact and an assault charge for the one who only swung.

Murder in Georgia is the unlawful killing of another person with malice aforethought, whether that malice is express or implied. Express malice is a deliberate intention to kill shown by the circumstances, while implied malice arises where there is no significant provocation and the killing reflects what the law calls an abandoned and malignant heart. This malice element is what separates murder from manslaughter, which involves a killing in the heat of passion after serious provocation.

Malice can form in an instant. Georgia does not require premeditation or any particular period of planning, so the intent needed for malice murder can arise immediately before the act. A killing carried out with reckless disregard for human life can satisfy implied malice even without a stated desire to kill.

The state recognizes felony murder as a separate route to a murder conviction. When a death occurs during the commission of a felony, the person can be convicted of murder regardless of any intent to kill, based on the underlying crime rather than on malice.

Georgia’s murder law does include a degree distinction, though a narrow one. Beyond malice and felony murder, the code defines murder in the second degree, which applies when a death results from second-degree cruelty to children, and it carries a lesser sentence than the others. For murder itself, there are no further degrees, and the punishment ranges from life with the possibility of parole to life without parole or, in the most serious cases, death. The available defenses track the elements, including justification such as self-defense, the absence of the required intent, and, in appropriate cases, a recognized mental health defense.

Only the State Board of Pardons and Paroles can grant a pardon in Georgia, an authority that rests with the Board rather than the governor. A pardon is an official act of forgiveness for a conviction, and the Board grants it based on evidence of rehabilitation, a law-abiding life, and the passage of time. An applicant builds a case showing they have moved past the offense.

Eligibility carries firm requirements. A person must have completed all sentences, including probation and parole, at least five years before applying, lived a law-abiding life since, have no pending charges, and have paid all fines and restitution. Applications call for extensive documentation, including a criminal history, a personal statement, and reference letters, and victim notification can occur in cases involving violent crimes.

A pardon does not erase the conviction. It restores civil and political rights and removes many of the disabilities a conviction imposes, but the conviction itself remains on the record rather than being expunged or sealed. That distinction surprises many applicants who expect a pardon to wipe the slate clean.

Firearm rights follow a separate track. A standard pardon or restoration of civil rights does not automatically return the right to possess a firearm; a person must specifically request restoration of firearm rights, and the Board decides that question on its own. The Board’s authority also stops at the state line in one respect: it cannot restore firearm rights for a federal conviction, which requires a presidential pardon. Anyone seeking a pardon mainly to regain the ability to own a gun needs to pursue that specific relief, since the general pardon, on its own, leaves the firearm question unanswered.

Convicted felons in Georgia are barred from possessing firearms under state law, separate from the broader federal prohibition. A first violation of the state ban is punishable by one to five years in prison, and a second or subsequent violation raises the range to five to ten years. The bar applies to actual and constructive possession, so control over a firearm can count even without ownership.

The nature of the prior conviction affects the exposure. A person whose earlier felony was a forcible felony, one involving the use or threat of force, faces the higher five to ten year range even on a first firearm offense. Drug felonies and other serious convictions likewise trigger the prohibition.

Exceptions are narrow rather than general. A person who has been pardoned for the underlying felony may possess firearms, and a separate provision allows possession by someone whose felony involved antitrust, unfair trade, or restraint of trade matters who applies and shows they pose no threat. Completing a sentence, by itself, does not restore a felon’s firearm rights in Georgia. There are also limited carve-outs, such as for certain antique firearms.

The First Offender Act adds a wrinkle. While a person is serving a first offender sentence, possessing a firearm is prohibited, but after successful completion they are not treated as a convicted felon and can generally possess again. In Georgia that right returns only through a pardon or a narrow statutory exception, never through the passage of time alone, so a person who picks up a gun after merely finishing a sentence can commit a fresh felony by doing so.

Pointing or aiming a firearm at another person, even without firing it, can lead to criminal charges in Georgia, and in many cases a serious felony. Drawing or pointing a gun at someone without legal justification is most often charged as aggravated assault, because placing a person in reasonable fear of a violent injury with a deadly weapon meets that offense, whether or not the gun is fired. Pointing a pistol at another is also a separate, lesser offense under its own statute.

The manner of the display matters. Brandishing a weapon in a threatening way can support charges such as disorderly conduct or, where a genuine threat of violence is communicated, terroristic threats. A public display that creates reasonable fear in others can draw a charge even without a specific target.

Lawful purpose is a key dividing line. Self-defense and defense of another can justify displaying a weapon when force is warranted, and handling a firearm for a legitimate activity such as hunting or at a range is not a crime. Holding a concealed carry permit does not authorize pointing a gun at someone or using it to threaten, since the permit governs carrying, not threatening conduct.

Context can raise the stakes. A confrontation in traffic where a driver brandishes a firearm is treated seriously and can lead to aggravated assault charges covering everyone the weapon was aimed at. A display meant only to warn or scare, with no intention of firing, can still become a felony. The fear it creates in the person staring down the weapon is what drives the charge, and a permit or a private resolve never to pull the trigger does not change that.

The threshold for felony theft in Georgia is a property value of more than $1,500, above which a theft that would otherwise be a misdemeanor becomes a felony. Value is measured by the fair market or replacement cost of the property at the time it was taken, and that figure frequently becomes the central dispute, since it decides whether a person faces a misdemeanor or a felony.

The felony penalties rise in steps with the value:

• More than $1,500 but less than $5,000: one to five years in prison.
• At least $5,000 but less than $25,000: one to ten years.
• $25,000 or more: two to twenty years.

For the two lower felony tiers, a judge retains discretion to sentence the case as a misdemeanor instead.

Certain facts change the calculation regardless of amount. Multiple thefts can be added together when they are part of a single continuing scheme, pushing a series of small takings over the felony line. A person with prior theft convictions can face a felony on a new theft even when the value is low, and theft involving a breach of fiduciary duty, an elderly victim, or exploitation of a declared disaster can be elevated on its own.

Shoplifting follows a separate and lower threshold, becoming a felony at $500 rather than $1,500. The dollar amount drives everything from the charge to the sentence length, so the difference between an item valued just under the line and one valued just over it can be the difference between a county jail term and years in state prison, which is why the valuation itself is so often contested.

Writing a bad check can be a crime in Georgia under the deposit account fraud statute, which applies when a person issues a check knowing it will not be honored. The offense covers writing a check on an account with insufficient funds or on an account that is closed, provided the person knew at the time that the instrument would bounce. The knowledge requirement is central, and the law builds in a process for establishing it.

Notice drives that process. If a check is refused for insufficient funds and the writer fails to pay the amount, plus a service charge, within ten days after receiving written notice of the dishonor, the law treats that failure as evidence of the required knowledge. This gives a check writer a window to make the payment good before the presumption hardens against them.

The amount determines the severity. A check below $1,500 is generally a misdemeanor, while $1,500 or more can be charged as a felony, carrying a heavier potential sentence and fine. Multiple checks may be added together for charging purposes when they are part of the same course of conduct.

Several situations supply a defense. Post-dating a check signals that funds are not yet available, which can complicate a prosecution built on knowledge of insufficient funds, and stopping payment over a genuine dispute about goods or services is not the same as passing a worthless check. An honest bank error or a real miscalculation also cuts against the knowledge the statute demands. The ten-day notice period often proves decisive, since a writer who covers the check within that window removes the very presumption the case depends on.