Blue Ribbon Committee

The House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Criminal Post-Conviction Litigation, and what GPS has put before it

What it is

In April 2026 the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, Jon Burns, appointed a set of Blue-Ribbon study committees to work between legislative sessions. This one studies criminal post-conviction litigation: what happens after a conviction becomes final, including habeas corpus, claims that a trial lawyer was ineffective, whether a person gets a lawyer for those claims, and where the cases are heard. A resolution to create the committee, HR 1703, ran out of time before the 2026 session ended; the Speaker created it by appointment instead.

The Committee is chaired by Rep. Stan Gunter of Blairsville, a former district attorney, who also chairs the House Judiciary Committee. It meets through the autumn and reports before the 2027 session opens in January, when its recommendations can become bills.

Who sits on it

Eight members of the House: Rep. Stan Gunter (chair), Rep. Chuck Efstration, Rep. Clint Crowe, Rep. Soo Hong, Rep. Bill Fincher, Rep. Rob Leverett, Rep. Scott Holcomb and Rep. Tyler Paul Smith. Every one of them returns for the 2027 session, so the committee that writes the recommendations will be in the chamber to act on them.

What it has done so far

July 10, 2026, Atlanta. The first hearing, at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center. The Chief Justice of Georgia, Nels Peterson, testified that the rules governing post-conviction review are the General Assembly’s to change and asked the legislature to take them up. GPS reported on the hearing: “We Did a Lot of the Breaking”: Georgia’s Top Judge Asks Lawmakers to Fix the Post-Conviction System.

August 21, 2026, Ellijay. The second meeting, at the Gilmer County Courthouse, on ineffective assistance of counsel. GPS attended, and Daraldo Gaither, who served time in Georgia’s prisons and speaks for GPS, testified about his own case and asked the Committee to repeal the four-year deadline on habeas petitions. The Committee has asked him to speak again at its next meeting.

GPS has followed the Committee’s work since its first hearing and has put written evidence before it: a submission on August 11, and a set of papers for the September meeting.

One meeting remains

Friday, September 18, 2026, at 9:00 a.m., in the Old Capitol Building, 201 East Greene Street, Milledgeville. The meeting is open to the public, and the House streams it. Anyone who wants to address the Committee arranges it through the Committee’s assistant; the details are on our page about writing to the Committee. After Milledgeville the Committee writes its report.

What GPS submitted

The papers GPS has provided to the Committee: the committee paper, the supporting paper, the model bill, a note on other issues, and the fifty-state survey. Every document is free to read, quote and check.

Read what GPS submitted →

What GPS is asking for

One change: repeal the four-year limitation on habeas corpus petitions, O.C.G.A. § 9-14-42(c), for every petition whatever the date of conviction, and let merit decide whether a claim is heard. It creates no proceeding, appoints no one and funds nothing. The reasons are set out in the papers, and the evidence behind them is in the fifty-state survey.

Write to the Committee

The Committee accepts messages from the public. Our message-the-Committee page explains who the members are, how to reach them, and offers a short letter you can send as it is or in your own words.

Georgia Prisoners’ Speak is the public voice of The GDC Accountability Project, Inc., a Georgia 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Last updated September 8, 2026.