The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia said he is considering how and when to lift the nine-month suspension of a state law requiring bond for defendants who have been in custody for 90 days without an indictment. 

Chief Justice Harold Melton told members of the state’s Judicial Council that he intends to address how to lift that suspension in an anticipated December order that would continue a state judicial emergency in place since COVID-19 first surfaced in Georgia last March. Melton called restoring the bond statute “the next logical step.”