03.11.10
Perhaps a law that will help those accused of DUI?
It has long been the solid trend in Georgia that any changes to DUI law in Georgia have been strongly against the interests of the accused. However, this year the Georgia legislature is considering HB 24, a bill which would adopt the federal rules of evidence. This may or may not help those accused of crimes generally, but the federal rule as it applies to “similar transactions” is much more favorable to DUI defendants.
“Similar transaction” evidence is evidence of past acts used to prove motive, intent, or in the case of DUI, “bent of mind.” In a nutshell, current Georgia law allows the State to introduce evidence of prior DUIs to show “bent of mind” or a propensity to drive drunk. In most other circumstances, character evidence such as this is strictly prohibited, but the current law allows a unique exception in Georgia for DUIs. Frankly, we consider this to be grossly unfair to our DUI clients.
We’ll monitor the progress of HB 24 and post at a later date. Hopefully the law will be changed to end what can only be considered an unjust law applied to DUI defendants.
K&B, llc
