Court hears banishment challenge

ATLANTA --- Georgia Supreme Court justices debating the state's banishment policy Monday reached at least one conclusion: Being confined to all but a remote Georgia county makes for a difficult drive.

When Justice Harris Hines wondered aloud how a banished offender could even reach the county without traveling through off-limits areas, fellow Justice Robert Benham quipped: "You could fly."

Judge Hines quickly responded by asking where you would even land.

The unusual interaction underscores the dilemma the state's top court faces over Georgia's banishment policy.

Georgia's judges are outlawed from banishing offenders from the state, but some have skirted the rule by banning them from all but one of Georgia's 159 counties.

The banished rarely move to the remote counties -- instead, lawyers say, some flee the state altogether.

State attorneys contend that the orders are a way to remove criminals from populous areas and protect victims.

But some defense attorneys see them as thinly disguised efforts to evade a Georgia constitutional provision that explicitly forbids courts from "banishment beyond the limits of the state."

The debate revolves around Gregory Mac Terry, who pleaded guilty to assault and stalking charges.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 10 more years on probation -- with the condition that he be banned from all of Georgia's counties except Toombs County in southeast Georgia.

The banishment effectively blocked his release from prison in June 2001 when he was barred from completing a work release program in Atlanta, delaying his release until at least next year, according to his lawsuit.