Court: OK to banish man to 'pleasures of Toombs County'

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday that convicts can be banished from all but one of Georgia's 159 counties when completing their sentences on probation.

In a 6-1 decision, the court partly ruled against a Douglas County man who appealed his banishment from every county in Georgia except Toombs, in southeast Georgia.

In 1995, Gregory Mac Terry was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation for assaulting and stalking his ex-wife. A Douglas County judge, concerned about Terry's obsession with his ex, banished him from all counties but Toombs for the duration of his sentence on probation and parole.

Terry's lawyer, McNeill Stokes, had argued the sentence was a back door way to force Terry out of the state.


AJC