State lawmakers passed two bills that Ninth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Summer Summerford calls “impact” bills, as they relate to law enforcement and the courts. The Ninth Judicial Circuit is comprised of the court systems in DeKalb and Cherokee counties. One bill allows prosecutors to charge someone with manslaughter if they provide fentanyl that leads to an overdose death. At the recent DeKalb County Republican Breakfast Club meeting Summerford stated, “This will be another tool in the tool kit that we can use.” She added that in recent years there have been local cases where overdose deaths could have led to manslaughter charges, had this law been in place Another bill, signed into law on May 6, will hold clergy to the same standard as school employees, regarding relationships with children. The bill makes it illegal for a member of the clergy to engage in sexual behavior with anyone under the age of 19. Under the bill, the offense would be Class B felony. Laws have been on the books for several years that hold school personnel to a higher standard of behavior. The clergy law mirrors that bill which prohibits sexual contact between public and private school teachers and students under the age of 19. A third new law, the Child Protection Act of 2024, will make it illegal to use computer technology to take an image created through artificial intelligence or a real photo and put a minor’s face on it to create an obscene image. A change in another law will help prosecute human trafficking cases. Summerford explained that in the past someone soliciting sex online set up an in-person meeting and arrived to find law enforcement officers waiting for them, unless money or something of value had changed hands, the person could only be charged with attempted human trafficking, a misdemeanor crime. Now they can be charged with the felony charge of human trafficking.
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