Rule 42.1.Private Special Prosecutors

Rule 42.1 draws a clear line around who can stand at the prosecution table in a Georgia criminal case. It shuts the door on private special prosecutors hired by the family or relatives of a named victim, meaning a victim’s family cannot pay a private lawyer to step into the prosecutor’s role and drive the case.

The rule leaves the other side of the door open, but only for a specific kind of appointment. Special assistant district attorneys, including attorneys drawn from public agency personnel, can prosecute criminal cases when the elected district attorney appoints them. The distinguishing feature is control: prosecution power stays with attorneys the district attorney has brought into the office’s own chain of authority, not with lawyers a private party has retained and directed.

This protects a basic feature of the criminal justice system: prosecutions are brought by the state, on behalf of the public, not by whoever a victim’s family can afford to hire. It keeps the decision to charge, negotiate, or try a case in the hands of an accountable public official rather than a privately funded advocate answering to the victim’s family as client.