Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

Re: Aggrevated Assault Law

He needs a criminal lawyer immediately. He is required to be taken before the magistrate within 72 hours where the charge will be read to him. At that time, he is eligible to request bond and, if granted, the court will set the amount. Depending on the facts, he may want a preliminary hearing. To assure the most favorable possible bail and to protect such other rights, he really should obtain a lawyer immediately to attend the bond hearing with him. The amount of the bond is up to the judge and it may depend on how he views his prior record. Much depends on the particular jurisdiction and judge.

The mere fact that the person suffered such bad injuries does not preclude the possibility of self-defense, and it is possible such injuries could occur with just a single blow. So, it should not be ruled out early, despite his history. Of course, his history will not be helpful in any respect.

If you want to immediately help your brother, find a good criminal lawyer in your area immediately. You can help him work on the anger management later when he is out of jail. A criminal defense lawyer might not want him going to that right now, because it may try to be construed as some kind of admission of a violence problem in relation to the incident. He surely needs to address this eventually, but perhaps not immediately. But, if he gets the management in the form of treatment through a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist, his communications with him/her will be privileged and cannot be used against him, so could be done right away.

Re: Aggrevated Assault Law

Oh, I overlooked mentioning. The arrest warrant itself may have a bail amount already set by the magistrate. If so, he will be so informed in jail. So, you may get a call from him telling you how much it is. If it is set and that could be raised, he could actually get out well before 72 hours. They will start processing him out as soon as all booking is complete and the bail is deposited. Some judges have held, though, that getting out on bail waives the right to a preliminary hearing. Others have not. But many judges are liberal in granting preliminary hearings to a person out on bail even if they don't recognize it as a right; others are not. All the more reason to get a criminal lawyer immediately, even before he is bailed out.