Derrico v. State

831 S.E.2d 794
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 5, 2019
DocketS19A0665
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 831 S.E.2d 794 (Derrico v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Derrico v. State, 831 S.E.2d 794 (Ga. 2019).

Opinion

Benham, Justice.

*796Appellant Mark Derrico was convicted of aggressive driving, reckless conduct, and failure to signal lane change or turn in connection with a road rage incident. Derrico has raised several challenges on appeal, including constitutional challenges. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. On August 29, 2014, Derrico was involved in a road rage incident with Felix Ambrosetti while driving northbound on Georgia State Route 400 in Forsyth County. Timothy Inglis - an independent witness - observed the events and called 911. Inglis testified that he saw Ambrosetti merge onto Georgia 400 and then proceed to cross all the way to the left lane in front of Derrico. Inglis then observed Derrico attempt to overtake Ambrosetti by passing him in the right lane. However, while heading back into the left lane, Derrico struck Ambrosetti's vehicle on the passenger side. Next, Derrico slowed down, went behind Ambrosetti's vehicle, then entered the emergency lane and struck Ambrosetti's vehicle on the driver side. After that, both vehicles pulled off the road. Inglis said that Ambrosetti maintained his lane throughout the incident and further testified that he believed Derrico was angry and overreacted to Ambrosetti's merging.

Deputy Day of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene and spoke with both Derrico and Ambrosetti on the day of the incident. Deputy Day cited Derrico for aggressive driving, reckless conduct, and improper lane change.

1. Derrico argues that the evidence presented was insufficient to convict him of aggressive driving under OCGA § 40-6-397,1 reckless conduct under OCGA § 16-5-60,2 and failure to signal a lane change or turn under OCGA § 40-6-123 (a)3 because he testified that he was innocent and that Ambrosetti was the aggressor. However, when we review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict and defer to the jury's assessment of the weight and credibility of the evidence. See Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.E.2d 560 (1979). The evidence, as set forth above, was sufficient to authorize a reasonable jury to find Derrico guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the offenses for which he was charged. See id.4

2. Derrico also argues that OCGA §§ 40-6-397 and 16-5-60 are unconstitutionally vague as applied to him.

It is well established that the void for vagueness doctrine of the due process clause requires that a challenged statute or ordinance give a person of ordinary intelligence fair warning that specific conduct is forbidden or mandated and provide sufficient specificity so as not to encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.

(Punctuation and citation omitted.) Major v. State , 301 Ga. 147, 152, 800 S.E.2d 348 (2017).

*797"Where, as here, the challenged statute[s] do[ ] not involve First Amendment freedoms, [they are] examined in light of the facts of the case at hand." (Citation omitted.) Baker v. State , 280 Ga. 822, 823, 633 S.E.2d 541 (2006). "Our construction of [these statutes] is consistent with this Court's duty to construe [ ] statute[s] in a manner which upholds [them] as constitutional, if that is possible." (Punctuation and citation omitted.) State v. Cohen , 302 Ga. 616, 623, 807 S.E.2d 861 (2017).

(a) Derrico contends that OCGA § 40-6-397 is unconstitutionally vague because the statute contains an open-ended list of violations and the aggressive driving count in his indictment does not include a reference to any of the statutes listed therein.5 Derrico also claims that he was arbitrarily selected for prosecution instead of Ambrosetti.

However, we cannot say OCGA § 40-6-397 does not give a person of ordinary intelligence fair warning that Derrico's conduct - particularly, moving into the emergency lane to then strike Ambrosetti's car a second time - is prohibited as an attempt to intimidate someone, which violates the plain language of the statute. See OCGA § 40-6-397 (a) ; Major , 301 Ga. at 152, 800 S.E.2d 348. Derrico's claim of selective prosecution also fails as he has not even attempted "to show that his prosecution represent[ed] an intentional and purposeful discrimination which [was] deliberately based upon an unjustifiable standard, such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification." Wallace v. State , 299 Ga. 672, 674, 791 S.E.2d 836 (2016).

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Bluebook (online)
831 S.E.2d 794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/derrico-v-state-ga-2019.