MASOOD v. THE STATE, A11A2246, Court of Appeals of Georgia, Appealed from DeKalb County State Court, Decatur, Georgia.  The Appellant, Naveed Masood, was stopped for DUI  in Doraville, Georgia.  The Doraville Police Officer testified that Masood straddled two lanes, drifted into a turn lane, made a wide turn, and then swerved.  The Officer initiated a traffic stop. The Officer noted that Masood had an odor of alcohol and red and glassy eyes. Masood was given two field tests: the HGN and Walk and Turn test. The jury viewed the video of the DUI arrest and investigation.  The jury found him not guilty of failure to maintain lane and guilty of DUI.  On appeal Masood essentially argued that his DUI conviction should reversed because of the inconsistency of the jury finding him not guilty of the failure to maintain lane and guilty of the DUI.  The Appellant argued that he was not making an inconsistent verdict argument but rather arguing that because the Officer conclusion that Masood was less safe was based on the failure to maintain lane five times before the stop that the less safe DUI must also fall. The Court of Appeals rejected this argument stating that Georgia long ago abolished the inconsistent verdict rule and will accept an otherwise seemingly illogical verdict as a compromise reached by the jury in deliberations.  The Georgia of Appeals ruled that the actual standard in a case like this is the evidence viewed in favor of the conviction sufficient to support the guilty verdict. Read the case.  
 
Decided: January 12, 2012. more

Ogilvie v. State, A11A0862, November 4th, 2011: Shirley Ogilvie appeals from her conviction for vehicular homicide in the second degree and failure to yield to a pedestrian in a cross walk in DeKalb County State Court.  She alleged that the accusation was fatally defective because it did not set out the elements of the offenese and for the trial court refusing to give a jury charge on accident in a strict liability offense.  The Court of Appeals found that the elements were set out in the accusation. The Court of Appeals found that a charge on accident was available in a strict liability offense. OCGA § 16-2-2 provides: "[a] person shall not be found guilty of any crime committed by misfortune or accident where it satisfactorily appears there was no criminal scheme or undertaking, intention, or criminal negligence." "`Accident' is an affirmative defense whereby it must be established a defendant acted without criminal intent, was not engaged in a criminal scheme, and was not criminally negligent, i.e., did not act in a manner showing an utter disregard for the safety of others who might reasonably be expected to be injured thereby. [Cit.]" A strict liability offense by its very nature lacks any intent to commit a crime. Because there was some evidence that there was no intent and Defendant admitted that she failed to yield to a pedestrian the charge was required.  more

Doraville Police Officer Kasey Lindsey was arrested Saturday night on October 8, 2011 after rear-ending another vehicle. According to police records, he failed field sobriety tests, offered his Doraville Badge instead of his Driver's License,  commenting that this would be there easiest DUI Arrest, admitted to drinking at a Doraville Strip Club and allegedly blew a .151 the state administered breath test on the Intoxilyzer 5000.  He was released a $2025.00 bond. Remember, all criminal defendants are innocent until proven guilty.  more

DUI police incident reports may be obtained from Central Records of the DeKalb County Police Department in Tucker, Georgia just across I-285 from Northlake Mall.  The telephone number for DeKalb County Police Department Central Records is (770) 724-7740.  Their hours of operation are Monday -Friday, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.   more

DeKalb Recorders Court has a new website that allows the entry of a not guilty plea by fax or e-mail.  Electronic pleas must be done at least ten (10) days prior to the arraignment date assigned by the DeKalb County Police Officer on the Uniform Traffic Citation (UTC). On the website, there is an advisement of rights form that has to be acknowledged and then a plea can be sent from the website.  more

HURT v. THE STATE, A10A2229, Court of Appeals of Georgia, Decided: November 16, 2010. Rico Hurt was convicted of DeKalb DUI illegal blood alcohol leveal after bench trial in the DeKalb County State Court in Decatur, Georgia. The DUI Decatur roadblock was found to be legal. The DUI arrestee argued the roadblock was illegal.  A police roadblock satisfies constitutional mandates where (1) the decision to implement the roadblock was made by supervisory personnel at the programmatic level, rather than officers in the field, for a legitimate primary purpose; (2) all vehicles, rather than random vehicles, are stopped; (3) the delay to motorists is minimal; (4) the roadblock is well identified as a police checkpoint; and (5) the screening officer has adequate training to make an initial determination as to which motorists should be given field sobriety tests.  more

G. Cruselle was stopped for speeding on I-285 in DeKalb County by Officer John Fox of the DeKalb County Police Department's Special Operations Division. Officer Fox noted that Cruselle was unsteady on his feet; clothes were in disarray; had a flushed face; had bloodshot, watery and glassy eyes; a strong odor of alcohol; in a confused state; speech was mumbled, and; presented a Georgia ID card.  Cruselle's passenger said he was driving like a fool, asked him to slow down and had a beer 30-45 minutes earlier during a game of beer pong.  Cruselle refused all field tests and the state administered breath test. more