Title 45

In addition to any salary, fees, or expenses now or hereafter provided by law, the governing authority of each of the counties in this state in the following population bracket is authorized to provide as contingent expenses for the operation of the office of coroner, and payable…

(a) Whenever an election fails to fill the office of coroner, the judge of the probate court shall appoint a person to serve as the coroner until a successor is duly elected in a special election which shall be held at the time of the next general election to serve out the remain…

Before beginning the duties of the office of coroner, a coroner shall take the oath required of all civil officers and shall take the following oath: ‘‘I swear that I will well and truly serve the State of Georgia in said office and faithfully and truly execute all writs and prec…

A coroner shall give bond and surety in the sum of $12,500.00 at the same time as he takes the oath provided for in Code Section 45-16-3. He is liable for retaining moneys collected or for otherwise failing to do his duty as sheriffs are and is subject to the same proceedings. (L…

When a coroner is required to act in the place of a sheriff, generally or specially, the judge of the probate court may require of him an additional bond in such sum and with such sureties as the judge, in his discretion, may think sufficient to meet the contingency. (Orig. Code …

During every calendar year they are in office, every coroner and deputy coroner shall be required, as a condition of continuing to serve as coroner, to take a training course approved by the Georgia Coroner’s Training Council pursuant to Code Section 45-16-66. Any coroner or depu…

(a) As soon as practicable after July 1, 1980, and at the beginning of each term of the coroner thereafter, the coroner of each county shall appoint a deputy coroner or coroners as provided in this Code section. A deputy coroner shall be appointed for each county, and one or more…

If any person makes an affidavit stating (1) that a sheriff is disqualified from acting in any proceeding, which disqualification was not apparent at the outset of the proceeding, or (2) that a sheriff or his deputy refuses to serve a writ or other process, then the clerk of the …

(a) When performing the duties of a sheriff, the coroner’s fees are the same as a sheriff’s. (b) This Code section shall not be construed to repeal or preempt any local Act or general Act of local application which places any coroner upon an annual salary or authorizes any corone…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the ‘‘Georgia Death Investigation Act.’’ (Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3.)

As used in this article, the term: (1) ‘‘Autopsy’’ means the dissection of a dead body and the examination of bone, tissue, organs, and foreign objects for the purpose of determining the cause of death and circumstances surrounding the same, which procedure shall include as a min…

(a) The director of the division is authorized and directed to cooperate with and assist the peace officers in charge, medical examiners, and coroners of the state in making the facilities of the division available for the performing of medical examiners’ inquiries on dead bodies…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any coroner or county medical examiner may delegate to a local medical examiner, forensic consultant, or medical examiner’s investigator the power to perform those duties of such coroner or medical examiner specified in thi…

(a) When any person dies in any county in this state: (1) As a result of violence; (2) By suicide or casualty; (3) Suddenly when in apparent good health; (4) When unattended by a physician; (5) In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those persons 16 yea…

(a)(1) Upon receipt of the notice required by Code Section 45-16-24, the coroner or county medical examiner shall immediately take charge of the body. If a registered professional nurse authorized to make a pronouncement of death under Code Section 31-10-16 or a qualified physici…

A dead body, other than skeletal remains, taken into custody under this article shall be released to the next of kin of the deceased, or to the agent of the next of kin, no later than 24 hours after the demand for release by that next of kin, or agent thereof, unless by that time…

When there is no coroner or deputy coroner in a county in which the office of coroner has not been replaced by a county medical examiner or when both are absent from the county when needed or will not or cannot perform the duties required under this article, the medical examiner …

(a) Coroners shall require an inquest to be conducted in their respective counties as follows: (1) When any person dies under any circumstances specified in paragraphs (1) through (8) of subsection (a) of Code Section 45-16-24; provided, however, that an inquest is not required t…

(a) Where a coroner or county medical examiner has been notified pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (a) of Code Section 45-16-24 of the death of any person after birth but before seven years of age whose death is unexpected or unexplained, the medical examiner’s inquiry requ…

In the case of death of any person under such circumstances as would not require a medical examiner’s inquiry under Code Section 45-16-24, any physician who is duly licensed under the laws of this state or any other state having licensing requirements equal to or greater than tho…

No person shall move or authorize the removal of any body from the place where the same is found until the investigation is completed and such removal is authorized by the coroner or medical examiner present at such investigation; or, if no such coroner or medical examiner is pre…

No person shall move or transport a body across a Georgia state line until the investigation of the case and the medical examiner’s inquiry are complete and until the removal of the body is authorized by the coroner or medical examiner. Except when the conduct is a violation of C…

When the deceased body lies in a place inconvenient for holding a medical examiner’s inquiry, the medical examiner or coroner shall be allowed to remove the body to the autopsy room of the nearest public hospital or morgue. If neither the coroner nor the medical examiner is immed…

The medical examiner and coroner shall complete a report of each medical examiner’s inquiry and coroner’s investigation and shall maintain permanent records of such reports. The coroner or county medical examiner may file all original reports with the clerk of the superior court …

Upon the completion of the medical examiner’s inquiry by the medical examiner, as provided in Code Section 45-16-24, and after verification by the division when such verification is required, the coroner shall then make an inquest into the death of such deceased person as provide…

(a) The coroner shall issue subpoenas to or otherwise compel the attendance of witnesses; and he shall administer to such witnesses the following oath: ‘‘The evidence that you shall give this inquest on behalf of the state concerning the death of (or a person unknown, as the case…

If the inquest discloses facts which lead or may lead to the prosecution of any person for the homicide of the person for whom the inquest is held, the coroner shall require all witnesses who testify to facts material to the issues involved in such prosecution to enter into a rec…

The coroner shall summon and impanel five jurors and one alternate juror to hold an inquest, which jurors shall decide the verdict by a majority vote. The first grand jury impaneled at the fall term of the superior courts of the several counties shall fix the compensation of said…

No coroner’s jury shall be impaneled until the investigation is completed and copies of the reports of the medical examiner and the peace officer in charge are received by the coroner. The jury is not required to view the body. (Ga. L. 1960, p. 1009, § 9; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § …

Whenever a coroner receives notice of the death of any person within the limits of the county of which he is coroner, which death occurred under circumstances which make it his duty, under the law, to hold an inquest, he shall make out a precept directed to the sheriff or any con…

(a) The following oath shall be administered to the foreman of the jury by the coroner: ‘‘You, as foreman of the inquest, shall diligently inquire and true presentment make, on behalf of the State of Georgia, how and in what manner (or a person deceased, unknown, as the case may …

(a) The coroner shall charge the jurors to declare, and they shall so declare, whether the person for whom the inquest is held died by: (1) Homicide; (2) Suicide; (3) Accident; (4) Natural causes; or (5) Undetermined causes and all of the circumstances relating to the death. (b) …

Any juror failing to attend and serve on a coroner’s inquest after being duly summoned may be fined by the coroner in a sum not exceeding $100.00 to be levied and collected by execution issued by the coroner unless such defaulting juror shall file in the office of the judge of th…

In all inquests the results of the medical examiner’s inquiry performed shall be offered in evidence either by oral testimony of the medical examiner or by introduction of a copy of the report filed with the director of the division, as verified in the cases requiring verificatio…

After the medical examiner’s inquiry and inquest have been completed, the dead body shall be delivered to the person legally entitled thereto for burial. If no person claims the body, it shall be turned over to the coroner of the county where death occurred for disposition as pro…

In order to implement this article, coroners are authorized to disinter any body already buried and, like a sheriff, to command the power of the county for that purpose. Medical examiners, other than local medical examiners, may likewise exercise such authority in any case wherei…

When any person has been admitted to a hospital or morgue as a result of any casualty and for any reason whatsoever is unable to give his or her consent to the taking of a sample of blood for analytical purposes, the coroner or peace officer in charge of the investigation of the …

Except as provided in Code Section 45-16-30, any person who violates this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. (Ga. L. 1960, p. 1009, § 9; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3.)

A coroner may be authorized to employ, at his discretion, a court reporter who is certified under Article 2 of Chapter 14 of Title 15, ‘‘The Georgia Court Reporting Act,’’ to record the proceedings of any inquest. The cost of acquiring the services of a certified court reporter s…

The fees heretofore authorized to be paid in cases arising under this article prior to May 1, 1997, shall continue to be paid at the rate specified therein until such time as the Board of Public Safety promulgates rules prescribing such fees as provided by paragraph (5) of Code S…

A medical examiner within the state of Georgia is authorized to provide to an approved canine instructor or school certain biological substances such as human blood or bodily fluids for the sole purpose of utilizing such substances for the training and handling of police canines …

This article shall be known as ‘‘The Georgia Coroner’s Training Council Act.’’ (Code 1981, § 45-16-60, enacted by Ga. L. 1985, p. 797, § 1.)

As used in this article, the term: (1) ‘‘Certified coroner’’ means a coroner who has the appropriate required certificate of training issued by the council on file with the Board of Public Safety. (2) ‘‘Coroner’’ means any person appointed or elected in a county to serve as coron…

(a) There is established a council which shall be known and designated as the ‘‘Georgia Coroner’s Training Council’’ which shall be composed of the superintendent of the Georgia Police Academy or his designee, which member shall not be a voting member; five coroners appointed by …

Immediately and before entering upon the duties of office, the members of the council shall take the oath of office and shall file the same with the Board of Public Safety, which, upon receiving the oath of office, shall issue to each member a certificate of appointment. (Code 19…

(a) The council at its initial meeting, which shall be held promptly after the appointment of its members, shall elect from among its members a chairman and a vice-chairman who shall serve until the first meeting in the succeeding year. Thereafter, the chairman and the vice-chair…