Editing Greene County, Georgia (section)

== Role in passage of the Georgia Indigent Defense Act ==
In 2001, [[Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia Supreme Court]] Chief Justice [[Robert Benham (judge)|Robert Benham]] convened a committee to investigate [[indigent defense]] in the state of Georgia. An avalanche of complaints about the state of public defense in Greene County, along with a number of lawsuits filed by [[Stephen Bright]] and the [[Southern Center for Human Rights]], contributed to the formation of this commission. The commission discovered during its investigation that indigent defendants in Greene County were routinely pleaded guilty by judges without the presence of counsel and sometimes without even being present in court to make their pleas, violations of the [[Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixth Amendment]]. Excessive bail, e.g. $50,000 for loitering, was often set as well, a violation of the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]]. After two years of investigation, the committee's recommendations led to the passage of the Georgia Indigent Defense Act.<ref>{{cite book | author = Amy Bach | title = Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court | publisher = Metropolitan Books | place = New York | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-0-8050-7447-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ordinaryinjustic00amyb }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2003_04/sum/hb770.htm | title = Georgia Indigent Defense Act HB 770 | access-date = August 5, 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120323052612/http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2003_04/sum/hb770.htm | archive-date = March 23, 2012 }}</ref>