CrimLaw

The Georgia Supreme Court rules that if two statutes overlap the prosecution is bound to follow the most recent, even if it has a lesser punishment:

Chief Justice Norman S. Fletcher wrote for the majority that there was "a clear legislative intent" that crimes like Mr. Dixon's be prosecuted as misdemeanor statutory rape, and that prosecutors not be able to choose among molestation laws. And since the statutory rape law overlapped with the molestation law, he wrote, Mr. Dixon was entitled to be prosecuted under it alone because it was more recent, more specific and carried a lesser sentence. He urged the Legislature to clarify the law.