240 Ga. App. 175 - Blanks v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In interpreting the statute, we look to the intent of the legislature and give effect to that intent. The legislature intended OCGA § 16-13-49 to ensure the prompt disposition of property subject to forfeiture under the statute. State of Ga. v. Jackson, 197 Ga. App. 619, 621 (1) ( 399 SE2d 88 ) (1990). Our Supreme Court has held that the plain meaning of “must” is a command, synonymous with “shall.” A mandatory construction of “must” as used in OCGA § 16-13-49 (o) (5) is consistent in context with the remainder of this paragraph which provides that the 60-day requirement may be “continued for good cause.” If the 60-day requirement were directory, rather than mandatory, there would be no need for a “good cause” continuance. Moreover, our construction of OCGA § 16-13-49 (o) (5) as mandatory, rather than directory, is consistent with the apparent purpose of that paragraph, which is to ensure a speedy resolution of contested forfeiture cases in the courts, as well as a speedy resolution of property rights. . . . The 60-day period is a statutorily prescribed time limit within which the State must either conduct a hearing or seek a continuance. After the [first] continuance, the State did neither for [over six] months, an unreasonably long time given these clear time constraints. Today we need not decide what period of time constitutes a reasonable delay after a continuance because, unquestionably, the outermost limits of a continuance would be another 60-day period before either t”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Rice v. State