Governor signs law to limit officer special treatment in grand jury

ATLANTA — A new Georgia law will limit the special treatment that police officers get when facing a grand jury.

Gov. Nathan Deal signed the bill Tuesday after a yearlong Channel 2 Action News-Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation raised questions about the handling of several deadly police shooting cases.

"When you're the only state in the country that takes a particular approach, you have a responsibility to take a giant step back and to reassess," said Rep. Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, who sponsored the legislation.

[READ: 2 Investigates: New questions about handling of GA police shooting]

Golick believes that the new law will bring fairness and transparency to the process. %

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"We now can be assured that whatever happens inside the grand jury room will be above question, and that is what matters," Golick said.

Under the new version of the law, officers will be allowed inside the grand jury room only to make a statement about the shooting, and the statement will be subject to questions from prosecutors and grand jurors.

[READ: Shot in the back]

Officers were previously allowed to sit in the grand jury room the whole time and hear all the other witnesses and evidence before making their own statements.

The hearings will now have a transcript, which can later become public.

"When we say 'Trust me,' they have to be able to trust us," said Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, who has handled a number of police shooting cases during his 35 years as a prosecutor.

He said the climate was finally right to scale back special treatment for officers while still preserving their rights.

READ: Investigation into Georgia police shootings receives national honor

"There's clearly a disconnect between certain communities and the law enforcement community that has to be healed," said Porter. %

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Last year, a Channel 2 Action News-Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation examined 184 fatal Georgia police shootings.

At the time of the investigation, no officer had faced criminal prosecution since at least 2010.

But the grand jury process which cleared the officers in several of those cases raised questions.

"A lot of the things that have been covered in the media, including some of your stories, would have been cured had we known what had gone on in the grand jury," said Golick, who credited WSB-TV and the AJC with drawing attention to the grand jury issue.

[READ: Deadly police shooting of unarmed teen reopened after Channel 2 investigation]

Golick worked with the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, which Porter chairs, to gain the support of the state's sheriffs and police chiefs.

The wording of the law went through several variations before it passed, including a failed attempt to have a special prosecutor handle police shooting cases statewide.

Porter said the existing language goes far enough and will make the process more accessible to the public.

"They're going to be able to look at their district attorney, how they handled those cases, and they're going to be able to make judgments about that," Porter said.

The new law takes effect July 1.

Cox Media Group