Georgia Code
Article 2 - Death Penalty Generally
§ 17-10-41. Persons Required to Be Present at Executions

There shall be present at the execution of a convicted person the superintendent of the state correctional institution or a deputy superintendent thereof, at least three executioners, two physicians to determine when death supervenes, and other correctional officers, assistants, technicians, and witnesses as determined by the commissioner of corrections. In addition, the convicted person may request the presence of his or her counsel, a member of the clergy, and a reasonable number of relatives and friends, provided that the total number of witnesses appearing at the request of the convicted person shall be determined by the commissioner of corrections.
History. Ga. L. 1924, p. 195, § 4; Code 1933, § 27-2515; Ga. L. 1956, p. 161, § 32; Ga. L. 1988, p. 252, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 947, § 4.
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 2000, p. 947, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “It is the intention of the General Assembly to provide for execution by lethal injection for persons sentenced to death after conviction of capital crimes committed on or after May 1, 2000. It is the further intention of the General Assembly that persons sentenced to death for crimes committed prior to the effective date of this Act be executed by lethal injection if the Supreme Court of the United States declares that electrocution violates the Constitution of the United States or if the Supreme Court of Georgia declares that electrocution violates the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of Georgia.”
Law reviews.
For comment, “Making the Murderer’s Voyeurs: The Influence of Violent Crime Exposure, Social Movements, and Desensitization on Georgia’s Treatment of the Death Penalty,” see 72 Mercer L. Rev. 883 (2021).

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