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Publication Date

12-19-2025

Document Type

Comment

Abstract

While lawyers across Georgia routinely file motions to suppress evidence in the state’s superior courts, many may never stop to consider what actually affords their clients that right. Practitioners preparing these motions quickly discover one of the most significant recent developments in modern Georgia criminal law: the debate over the scope of a criminal defendant’s constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and, more importantly, when courts must suppress evidence obtained in violation of those rights. Will the Georgia Supreme Court overturn Gary v. State in full and adopt a good-faith exception? If so, can criminal defense attorneys look to a Georgia state-specific exclusionary rule?

In the spirit of the Georgia Supreme Court’s invitation for state constitutional arguments and the Mercer Law Review’s commitment to state constitutional rediscovery, this Comment argues that the future of Georgia’s exclusionary rule lies not in federal lockstep but in a state-specific exclusionary rule grounded in the Paragraph XIII of the Georgia Constitution, illuminated by Williams v. State, and given effect through O.C.G.A. § 17-5-30.

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