Cherokee County Magistrate Court & First Appearance
This is the court that sets the bond. It runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it sees everyone booked into the Cherokee County jail.
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The court that decides whether your loved one comes home
Cherokee County Magistrate Court sits in the Frank C. Mills III Justice Center at 90 North Street, Suite 150, Canton, GA 30114. The clerk’s office is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 678-493-6431 — but the court itself, as the county puts it, “operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.”
It does that because of one specific duty. The county publishes it plainly: seven part-time judges, all experienced trial attorneys, handle initial appearance and bail hearings for every person booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center. Chief Magistrate Judge Jack Goodwin III presides.
If you are waiting on a bond, this is the court you are waiting on.
Key details
- 90 North Street, Suite 150, Canton, GA 30114-2786
- Clerk: 678-493-6431, Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
- The court itself operates 24/7/365
- Chief Magistrate Judge Jack Goodwin III
- Seven part-time judges cover after-hours bail hearings
- Also issues arrest and search warrants
- Civil claims not exceeding $15,000
- Hears civilian arrest warrant applications
The deputy clerks are not lawyers and the court states it is illegal for them to give legal advice. They can tell you procedure, not strategy.
How long before a bond is set
Georgia law sets two deadlines. Under O.C.G.A. § 17-4-62, a person arrested without a warrant who is not brought before a judicial officer within 48 hours of arrest shall be released. Under § 17-4-26, a person arrested on a warrant must be presented before a committing judicial officer within 72 hours, and must be notified of when and where the commitment hearing will be held — failing which they shall be released.
Cherokee County Magistrate Court’s own published duty is “seeing all persons arrested within 72 hours to set bail at first appearance hearings.”
No official Cherokee County source publishes a fixed first-appearance calendar with days and times. Do not trust any site that gives you one. Call the clerk at 678-493-6431, or call us at 770-224-9150 and we will check.
First appearance and bail in Cherokee County.
Magistrate Court’s criminal jurisdiction
- First appearance hearings where bail is set within 72 hours of arrest
- Issuance of arrest warrants and search warrants
- Probation-violation arrest warrants
- Preliminary and commitment hearings
- Hearings on civilian arrest warrant applications
- Extradition waivers
- County ordinance violation trials
The limits on a Magistrate judge’s bail authority
A Magistrate judge cannot set bond on the offenses listed in O.C.G.A. § 17-6-1(a). Those are bailable only before a judge of the Superior Court — treason, murder, rape, aggravated sodomy, armed robbery, home invasion in the first degree, hijacking, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, sale of Schedule I or II controlled substances, drug trafficking, aggravated stalking, trafficking of persons, criminal street gang offenses, and kidnapping, arson, aggravated assault or burglary where the accused has a qualifying prior or was on probation, parole or bail.
If your loved one is charged with one of these, no bondsman can post anything until a Superior Court judge acts. Anyone who tells you otherwise is taking your money.
Magistrate Court also handles small claims
- Civil claims not exceeding $15,000
- Dispossessory (eviction) and distress proceedings
- Post-judgment discovery
- Personal property and vehicle foreclosures
- Wage and bank garnishments
Questions we get asked
678-493-6431. The clerk’s office is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., though the court itself operates around the clock.
Cherokee County commits to seeing everyone arrested within 72 hours to set bail at first appearance, and Georgia law requires 48 hours after a warrantless arrest. The court staffs seven part-time judges specifically to make that happen at nights and weekends.
No. The offenses in O.C.G.A. 17-6-1(a) are bailable only before a Superior Court judge. Magistrate Court has no authority over those bail decisions.
Magistrate Court hears civilian arrest warrant applications. Call the clerk at 678-493-6431 to ask about the process. The clerks cannot give you legal advice.
Related Cherokee County guides
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