Georgia Code
Article 2 - Death Investigations
§ 45-16-27. When Inquest to Be Held; Special Situations; Coroner’s Fee; Issuance of Subpoenas; Cost of Copying; Limited Disclosure of Photographs

(D.1) In cases of deaths resulting from an accident involving any civil aircraft, it shall be the responsibility of the peace officer in charge to notify the National Transportation Safety Board or the Federal Aviation Administration of such accident, to proceed to the scene and guard the area in such manner that no bodies, wreckage, cargo, or mail shall be moved or disturbed until authorized by a representative of the National Transportation Safety Board or the Federal Aviation Administration except to the extent necessary to remove individuals injured or trapped, to protect the wreckage from further damage, or to protect the public from injury. When it is necessary to move aircraft wreckage, mail, or cargo, sketches, descriptive notes, and photographs shall be made, if possible, of the original positions and condition of the wreckage and any significant impact marks. The coroner or medical examiner shall assist investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board or the Federal Aviation Administration as authorized by federal law;
(b.1) A local Act providing for the compensation of a coroner shall remain in full force and effect, except as otherwise provided in this subsection. In those instances where such local Act provides for a salary in an amount less than the amount of compensation such coroner would be entitled to pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section, the coroner may elect to be compensated pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section in lieu of the compensation provided for by local Act. The coroner shall provide written notice to the county governing authority of such election no later than October 1 of any year to be effective January 1 of the next calendar year.
A superior court may, in closed criminal investigations, order the disclosure of such photographs upon findings in writing that disclosure is in the public interest and that it outweighs any privacy interest that may be asserted by the deceased’s next of kin. In any such action, the court shall review the photographs in question in camera and may condition any disclosure on such measurers as the court may deem necessary to accommodate the interests of the parties before it.
History. Laws 1823, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 537; Code 1863, § 566; Code 1868, § 630; Code 1873, § 589; Code 1882, § 589; Ga. L. 1893, p. 116, § 1; Penal Code 1895, § 1255; Ga. L. 1901, p. 44, § 1; Penal Code 1910, § 1337; Code 1933, § 21-202; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 5; Ga. L. 1960, p. 1009, § 4; Ga. L. 1961, p. 437, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 543, § 5; Ga. L. 1981, p. 611, § 2; Ga. L. 1984, p. 812, § 4; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1073, § 2; Ga. L. 1986, p. 10, § 45; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1594, § 2; Ga. L. 1988, p. 722, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3; Ga. L. 1995, p. 350, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1421, §§ 7, 8; Ga. L. 1999, p. 869, § 3; Ga. L. 2002, p. 667, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 568, § 12/SB 450; Ga. L. 2010, p. 259, § 3/HB 1322; Ga. L. 2013, p. 739, § 2/SB 226; Ga. L. 2014, p. 866, § 45/SB 340; Ga. L. 2017, p. 319, § 6-2/HB 249; Ga. L. 2022, p. 409, § 2/SB 496.
The 2014 amendment, effective April 29, 2014, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in the second sentence of subsection (b.1).
The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, substituted “individual” for “person” in paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(4); substituted “shall be authorized” for “is authorized” near the end of paragraph (a)(1) and in the second sentence of subparagraph (a)(1)(C); in paragraph (a)(1), substituted “paragraphs (1) through (10)” for “paragraphs (1) through (8)” and substituted “inquest shall not be required” for “inquest is not required” in the middle; added a comma following “45-16-32” in the second sentence of subparagraph (a)(1)(A); in subparagraph (a)(1)(D.1), substituted “individuals” for “persons” near the end of the first sentence and substituted “When” for “Where” at the beginning of the second sentence; inserted “or her” near the middle of the second sentence of subparagraph (a)(1)(E); and substituted “he or she” for “the person” near the end of paragraph (a)(4).
The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, substituted “through (11)” for “through (10)” in the middle of paragraph (a)(1).
Cross references.
Sudden or unusual death of inmate, § 42-5-7 .
Code Commission notes.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2002, “camera and” was substituted “camera, and” in the undesignated paragraph of subsection (d).
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2010, “May 20, 2010,” was substituted for “the effective date of this subsection” in paragraph (e)(4).
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 1997, p. 1421, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Georgia Forensic Sciences Act of 1997.’ ”
Ga. L. 2010, p. 259, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Meredith Emerson Memorial Privacy Act’.”
Ga. L. 2010, p. 259, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “The General Assembly finds that photographs or video recordings of certain crime scene photos depict the deceased in graphic and often disturbing fashion. Such photographs or video may depict or describe the deceased nude, grossly dismembered, or decapitated. As such photographs or video recordings are highly sensitive depictions of the deceased which, if viewed, copied, or publicized, could result in trauma, sorrow, humiliation, or emotional injury to the immediate family of the deceased, as well as injury to the memory of the deceased. The legislature finds that the existence of certain publications and the Internet and the proliferation of personal computers throughout the world encourages and promotes the wide dissemination of photographs and video recordings 24 hours a day and that widespread unauthorized dissemination of such images would subject the immediate family of the deceased to continuous injury.”
Administrative rules and regulations.
Rules of the limited disclosure and viewing of certain crime scene photographs and videos by bona fide members of the press, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Rule 92-5-.01.
Law reviews.
For article on the 2017 amendment of this Code section, see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 143 (2017).