Before taking office, rep writes his first bill
State Rep.-elect Colton Moore promised to make moves in the Georgia legislature right off the bat, furiously dropping bills like a rapper in an Atlanta strip club. He took his first step this month, when he put an actual proposal on paper.
Now comes the hard part: legislating.
Moore, 25, R-Lookout Mountain, will file the Fully Informed Jury Act of 2019 after he is sworn in this January. On the heels of some recent high-profile cases that dealt with growing and sharing marijuana, Moore hopes the bill will encourage juries to acquit defendants when they believe the law itself is unjust.
“It gives the jury a lot more independence,” Moore said, “which is what I think the jury ought to do.”
The legislation would require judges, at the request of defense attorneys, to read a section of the Georgia Constitution to juries during the charge: “The jury shall be the judges of the law and the facts.” The charge occurs at the end of the trial, when the judge reads legal instructions to jurors.
Moore came up with the idea for the bill after reading about attorney Catherine Bernard’s defense strategy in a couple of recent cases. In October 2017, a Laurens County jury found Antonio Willis not guilty after he testified he only gave an undercover officer marijuana because the officer promised him a construction job in return. The deal was captured on video, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In July, another Laurens County jury found Javonnie McCoy not guilty after police
arrested him for growing marijuana in his home. On the stand, McCoy admitted the pot was his. But he said he self-medicated to treat migraines, the result of a bad beating years ago.
In both cases, Bernard urged jurors to think beyond simply what the law in front of them said. She quoted the section of the Georgia Constitution that Moore put in his bill, telling them they could decide whether the law should be enforced.
“I’m super-encouraged about him getting elected,” said Bernard, a Republican who made three unsuccessful bids for a state House seat. “I’ve dealt with a lot of members of the state legislature. He seems very determined to do things right.”
Former state Rep. Charles Gregory, R-Kennesaw, has pushed a similar bill. In 2013, it didn’t go to a committee. In 2014, it didn’t reach the House floor for a vote. Gregory lost his re-election bid that year.
The Fully Informed Jury Act is one of three bills Moore plans to drop after he officially takes office. He is writing legislation he hopes will encourage teachers to discipline students more often, as well as a bill that would restrict methadone from Georgia clinics to state residents. (There are five methadone clinics near the state line, in Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold, Rossville and Wildwood.)
UPHILL BATTLE
Pushing legislation through the capitol is notoriously difficult for a new lawmaker. Last year, state Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, drafted one bill as a freshman lawmaker. It aimed to protect students who wanted to express religious beliefs at school events.
He told the Times Free Press a veteran lawmaker advised him to write just one bill during his first year in office, just to learn how the legislature works. His legislation did not reach the floor for a vote.
Other northwest Georgia lawmakers also moved slowly when it comes to writing bills. State Rep. Dewayne Hill, R-Ringgold, has passed one in his first two years in office, to create a hotel-motel tax in Ringgold.
State Rep. Steve Tarvin, R-Chickamauga, has passed five bills in five years, concentrating on local matters. His legislation put referendums on ballots in Tunnel Hill, Walker County and Whitfield County; he also created a hotel-motel tax in LaFayette and revised Chickamauga’s city charter.
Moore defeated incumbent John Deffenbaugh in the Republican primary in May and was unopposed in this month’s election. He hoped to move quickly and said he met with legislative counsel at the capitol weeks after his primary win. At the time, he said, attorneys told him he could prefile a bill at the end of this year, even though he had not been sworn in.
He expected the bills this month. But when he showed up, he said, a new counsel told him he could not actually pre-file.
“I said, ‘Is this a law?’ [The counsel] said, ‘No, it’s not a law,’” Moore recounted last week.
“I said, ‘Is it a House rule?’ He said, ‘No, it’s not a House rule.’ I said, ‘Is this just your rule?’ He said, ‘Yes, it’s just my rule.’”
“It’s quite ridiculous,” he added. “They’ve become the fourth branch of government.”
An employee at the General Assembly’s legislative counsel office told the Times Free Press the counsel could not discuss discussions with a lawmaker.
“What you heard from the member would be exactly what legislative counsel explained to him,” she said, without being told Moore’s version of events.
Moore said counsel gave him a draft of the Fully Informed Jury Act but as of Friday he had not seen drafts of the other two bills, which he hopes to circulate among other lawmakers before the session begins in January.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett art 423-7576476 or tjett@timesfree press.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.