In Georgia, cases involving domestic violence are known as the offense of family violence battery.  Georgia Code 16-5-23.1 defines this offense as follows: If the offense of battery is committed between household members, it shall constitute the offense of family violence battery.

The law defines the term “household member” as follows: Past or present spouses, persons who are parents of the same child, parents and children, stepparents and stepchildren, foster parents and foster children, or other persons living or formerly living in the same household.

Sentencing Range: 

• The first conviction is a misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.

• A second or subsequent conviction against the same or another victim is a felony that is subject to imprisonment for not less than 1-5 years.

• A special section in the statutes provides that if the defendant has previously been convicted of a forcible felony, then a conviction of family violence battery is a felony that is subject to imprisonment for not less than 1-5 years.

Simple Assault

Georgia Code 16-5-20 provides that a person commits the crime of simple assault when the person either:

1. Attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or

2. Commits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.

Sentencing Range:  Except in unique circumstances where it is punishable as a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, the crime of simple assault is a misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.

Aggravated Assault

In all cases, aggravated assault is a felony offense.  Georgia Code 16-5-21 provides that a person commits the crime of aggravated assault when he or she assaults:

1. With intent to murder, to rape, or to rob;

2. With a deadly weapon or with any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury;

3. With any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in strangulation; or

4. A person or persons without legal justification by discharging a firearm from within a motor vehicle toward a person or persons.

Sentencing Range:  The crime of aggravated assault shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year nor more than 20 years. In rare cases, the sentencing range may exceed 20 years.

A person unfamiliar with the criminal justice system may assume that the crime of battery only applies when individuals get into a physical altercation. However, legally speaking, the definition is much broader than most people realize, with each crime classified in different ways and carrying its own separate consequences.

Simple Battery

Georgia Code 16-5-23 provides that a person commits the crime of simple battery when that person either:

1. Intentionally makes contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the person of another; or

2. Intentionally causes physical harm to another.

Sentencing Range:  Except in unique circumstances where it is punishable as a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, the crime of simple assault is a misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.

Battery

Georgia Code 16-5-23.1 (a) provides that a person commits the crime of battery when he or she intentionally causes substantial physical harm or visible bodily harm to another.

Sentencing Range:  

A first conviction is a misdemeanor and carries a possible sentence of up to 12 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. A second conviction is a misdemeanor and carries a possible sentence of imprisonment for not less than ten days nor more than 12 months, by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or both. 

If a person is convicted for a third time of battery against the same victim, they shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year nor more than 5 years.

Aggravated Battery

In all cases, aggravated battery is a felony offense.  Georgia Code 16-5-24 provides that a person commits the crime of aggravated battery when he or she maliciously causes bodily harm to another by depriving him or her of a member of his or her body, by rendering a member of his or her body useless, or by seriously disfiguring his or her body or a member thereof.

Sentencing Range: The crime of aggravated battery shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year nor more than 20 years. In rare cases, the sentencing range may exceed 20 years. 

Robbery

In all cases, robbery is a felony offense.  Georgia Code 16-8-40 provides that the crime of robbery occurs when, with intent to commit theft, a person takes property of another from the person or the immediate presence of another:

1. By use of force;

2. By intimidation, by the use of threat or coercion, or by placing such person in fear of immediate serious bodily injury to himself or to another; or

3. By sudden snatching.

Sentencing Range: A person convicted of the offense of robbery shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year nor more than 20 years.

Armed Robbery

In all cases, armed robbery is a felony offense.  Georgia Code 16-8-41 provides that a person commits the offense of armed robbery when, with intent to commit theft, he or she takes property of another from the person or the immediate presence of another by use of an offensive weapon, or any replica, article, or device having the appearance of such weapon. The offense of robbery by intimidation shall be a lesser-included offense of armed robbery.

Sentencing Range: A person convicted of the offense of armed robbery shall be punished by imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole, or by imprisonment for life, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 nor more than 20 years.

It is critical to keep in mind that the offense of armed robbery is categorized as a serious violent felony in Georgia.  Consequently, you are not eligible to be sentenced as a First Offender under Georgia Code 42-8-60.  In addition, if convicted of armed robbery, you must serve a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, and that sentence cannot be reduced by parole. 

Under Georgia law, the crime of manslaughter can be charged in one of two ways:  voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. 

Voluntary Manslaughter

In all cases, voluntary manslaughter is a felony offense. Georgia Code 16-5-2 provides that a person commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter when he causes the death of another human being under circumstances which would otherwise be murder and if he acts solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person; however, if there should have been an interval between the provocation and the killing sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, of which the jury in all cases shall be the judge, the killing shall be attributed to deliberate revenge and be punished as murder.

Sentencing Range: A person who commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 1 nor more than 20 years in prison.

Involuntary Manslaughter

Georgia Code 16-5-3 provides that a person commits the offense of involuntary manslaughter when he: 

1. In the commission of an unlawful act, causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so by the commission of an unlawful act other than a felony; or (Felony)

2. In the commission of a lawful act in an unlawful manner, causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so, by the commission of a lawful act in an unlawful manner likely to cause death or great bodily harm. (Misdemeanor)

Sentencing Range: In subsection 1, it is a felony that carries a sentence of not less than 1 year nor more than 10 years in prison.  In subsection 2, it is a misdemeanor that carries a term of imprisonment of up to 12 months, a fine of $1,000, or both. 

Malice Murder

Georgia Code 16-5-1(a) states that a person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being. Simply put, the legal elements for the crime of murder in the state of Georgia are: 

1. Unlawfully

2. Causing the death of another human being 

3. With malice aforethought.

Express malice is the deliberate intention to unlawfully take the life of another human being, which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.

Sentencing Ranges:

A person convicted of the offense of malice murder shall be punished by death, by imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole, or by imprisonment for life.

Felony Murder

Georgia Code 16-5-1(c) provides that a person commits the offense of felony murder when, in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.

Sentencing Ranges:

A person convicted of the offense of felony murder shall be punished by imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole, or by imprisonment for life.

Murder in the Second Degree

Georgia Code 16-5-1(c) provides that a person commits the offense of murder in the second degree when, in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.

Sentencing Ranges:

A person convicted of the offense of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten nor more than 30 years.