Friday, March 21, 2003
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Friday, March 21, 2003 |
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Ga. Supreme Court: PTC police OK to use traffic ticket for alcohol offense By JOHN MUNFORD
The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that Peachtree City properly used a traffic citation to charge a local youth for underage possession of alcohol. The decision, published last week by the court, overturns a previous ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals, which had ruled the city could not charge Eric Shaver, who was 19 at the time, with underage possession of alcohol by using a traffic citation. The Supreme Court noted in its opinion that Georgia law allows a citation to be used for someone charged with underage possession of alcohol. The uniform traffic citation met the criteria for qualifying as a "citation" for underage possession of alcohol, the court ruled. Shaver was convicted of the offense in Peachtree City's municipal court in 1999. He later appealed the case to Fayette County Superior Court, where the appeal was denied before the Court of Appeals took up the issue and ruled in his favor. Shaver's attorneys, Joe Saia and Lloyd Walker, had argued that another Georgia law requires that the uniform traffic citation be used only for traffic offenses. But that law applies only to "superior, state, or county courts," not municipal courts, the Supreme Court noted in its decision. "But for the appearance of the words "Uniform Traffic" at the top of the form, the propriety of using the document as a citation ... would not even be an issue," wrote Justice P. Harris Hines in the court's opinion. "... And in no manner did the inclusion of the words "Uniform Traffic" on the citation prejudice Shaver's ability to defend the charge." The Superior Court's decision allows Shaver's conviction to stand. Previously the Court of Appeals ruled the conviction should have been reversed. Peachtree City was represented by former city attorney Rick Lindsey along with Christy Jindra and Martin Jones.
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