Within 60 days after the evidentiary hearing, the petitioner may file any brief and if so directed by the court shall file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law and a proposed order. Within 90 days after the evidentiary hearing, the respondent may file any responsive brief and if so directed by the court shall file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law and a proposed order. Within 100 days after the evidentiary hearing, the petitioner may file any additional responsive brief.
Rule 44.11.Briefing
Rule 44. HABEAS CORPUS PROCEEDINGS IN DEATH SENTENCE CASES · Last amended 1996 · Last verified July 17, 2026
In one sentenceRule 44.11 lays out a three-round post-hearing briefing schedule — the petitioner’s opening brief at sixty days, the respondent’s response at ninety, and the petitioner’s reply at one hundred — with proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a proposed order due from each side if the court so directs.
Full Text of Rule 44.11
Plain-English Summary
Rule 44.11 spells out a three-round briefing schedule that runs from the evidentiary hearing rather than from the original filing date. The petitioner may file an opening brief within sixty days after the hearing. The respondent then has ninety days after the hearing to file a responsive brief. Finally, the petitioner may file an additional responsive brief within one hundred days after the hearing.
The court can ask for more than argument at each of the first two stages. If the court so directs, the petitioner and the respondent must each submit proposed findings of fact, proposed conclusions of law, and a proposed order along with their briefs — a common technique that lets the judge draw on the parties’ own analysis of a long evidentiary record rather than building findings from scratch.
Stacking three filing deadlines inside a forty-day span — sixty to one hundred days after the hearing — keeps the post-hearing phase compact, feeding directly into the court’s own ninety-day deadline to rule under Rule 44.12.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the petitioner’s opening post-hearing brief due?
Within sixty days after the evidentiary hearing.
When is the respondent’s brief due?
Within ninety days after the evidentiary hearing.
Does the petitioner get to file a reply?
Yes, an additional responsive brief within one hundred days after the hearing.
What else might the court require along with the briefs?
Proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and a proposed order, if the court so directs.
Are proposed findings and a proposed order required in every case?
No, only when the court directs a party to file them.
Amendment History
Amended effective January 11, 1996.
Source & verification. Rule text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Uniform Superior Court Rules, published by the
Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia. Last verified July 17, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: USCR 44.11post hearing briefing schedule habeas Georgiaproposed findings of fact habeas corpus60 90 100 day briefing habeasdeath penalty habeas reply brief deadline