As a general rule, the written statement of an alleged victim should not be in the jury room during the jury’s deliberations. The rule, called the continuing witness rule, says that a jury might give too much influence to the statement if it is in the jury room. The statement becomes a witness, whose testimony continues in the jury room.

The Court of Appeals recently upheld the law that says a law enforcement officer may not legally search for a person who they have an arrest warrant for in the home of a third person.

Because concern for officer safety is present during a traffic stop, officers involved in a traffic stop may order the driver and any passengers out of the vehicle. Eaton v. State, A08A1674. However, the officer may not perform a pat down search of the driver or passengers unless the officer has a reasonable basis to believe the person is armed. There must be specific facts that would cause someone to believe that the officer’s safety may be in danger. For example, if the officer asks whether a person is armed, and the person does have a knife, then there is a reasonable basis for the officer to believe the person might be armed with another weapon. State v. Kipple, A08A2034.

The Georgia Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the registration requirement of Georgia’s sex offender law as applied to homeless sex offenders who have no street address. The Court said the law did not give homeless sexual offenders without an address fair notice of how they can comply with the law’s registration requirement.