Monroe v. the State

797 S.E.2d 245, 340 Ga. App. 373, 2017 WL 715967, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 68
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 23, 2017
DocketA16A1932
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 797 S.E.2d 245 (Monroe v. the State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Monroe v. the State, 797 S.E.2d 245, 340 Ga. App. 373, 2017 WL 715967, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 68 (Ga. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

McFADDEN, Presiding Judge.

After a jury trial, Thomas Roy Monroe was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol to the extent that he was a less safe driver, speeding, failure to maintain lane, and driving while possessing an open container of an alcoholic beverage. Monroe appeals his convictions, arguing that the evidence does not support them; that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of his prior DUI conviction; that the trial court erred by allowing the state to introduce certain demonstrative evidence; and that the trial court should have excluded testimony about an open container of what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage found in his car.

We find that the evidence was sufficient and that Monroe has not shown reversible error in the admission of his prior conviction, the demonstrative evidence, or the testimony about the open container. So we affirm Monroe’s convictions.

1. Sufficiency of the evidence.

“On appeal from a criminal conviction, the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence, and we view the evidence in a light favorable to the verdict.” Coleman v. State, 284 Ga. App. 811, 812 (1) (644 SE2d 910) (2007) (citation omitted). So viewed, the evidence showed that at 3:00 a.m. on May 9, 2013, a sergeant with the Gwinnett County Police Department pulled over Monroe’s car for speeding and for failing to maintain his lane. The car was traveling at a rate of 65 to 70 miles per hour, while the speed limit was 45 miles per hour, and the sergeant had seen Monroe twice drift over his lane line. The sergeant immediately smelled an odor of alcohol coming from inside the car. The sergeant believed that Monroe was intoxicated to the point where he was an unsafe driver.

The sergeant called for another officer to take over the investigation. That officer observed six out of six clues of impairment in his horizontal gaze nystagmus evaluation of Monroe. He also smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Monroe’s mouth and observed that Monroe’s speech was somewhat slurred. Monroe did *374 not participate in the walk-and-turn and one-leg stand evaluations, explaining that he had been in a car accident. He refused to submit to a breath test after the officer had read him his implied consent rights. Based on Monroe’s driving as well as the horizontal gaze nystagmus evaluation, the officer arrested Monroe for driving under the influence of alcohol. After Monroe’s arrest, the sergeant searched Monroe’s car and found a glass filled with ice and a dark liquid that smelled like an alcoholic beverage.

This evidence was sufficient for the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Monroe was guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol to the extent that he was a less safe driver, speeding, failure to maintain lane, and driving while possessing an open container of an alcoholic beverage. OCGA §§ 40-6-391 (a) (1); 40-6-181; 40-6-48 (1); 40-6-253 (b); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. Prior DUI conviction.

Monroe argues that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of his prior DUI conviction. The trial court admitted the evidence both under OCGA § 24-4-417 (a) (1) on the ground that it was relevant to prove knowledge and under OCGA § 24-4-404 (b) on the ground that it was relevant to show his intent.

First, Monroe argues that OCGA § 24-4-417 (a) (1) is unconstitutionally vague. But Monroe has failed to point to any place in the record where the trial court distinctly ruled on his constitutional challenge. Therefore, the constitutional challenge was not preserved for appeal. See Focus Entertainment Int'l. v. Bailey, 256 Ga. App. 283, 284 (568 SE2d 183) (2002).

Monroe also argues that admission of this evidence violated his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. He seems to argue that if the evidence of his prior DUI conviction was admissible to prove knowledge or intent, then its admission required him to testify to explain his lack of knowledge or intent. But Monroe

cites no authority to support his argument that adverse evidence must be excluded because its admission might impact a defendant’s decision to testify. To the contrary, even if [Monroe] was forced to choose between asserting a defense based upon his own testimony or remaining silent, that is a choice that is inherent in any defendant’s decision whether to testify or not, and that does not violate a defendant’s constitutional rights.

Whitman v. State, 316 Ga. App. 655, 660 (729 SE2d 409) (2012) (citations and punctuation omitted).

*375 Monroe claims that the admission of his prior DUI conviction amounted to double jeopardy. But he failed to support this claim with citation of authority or argument and thus has abandoned it. Court of Appeals Rule 25 (c) (2). In any event, double jeopardy “prevents successive prosecutions for the same offense[;] it does not prevent prosecutions for offenses which are separate and similar to a prior prosecuted offense.” Loden v. State, 199 Ga. App. 683, 689 (6) (406 SE2d 103) (1991) (citations omitted; emphasis in original).

Monroe argues that the trial court erred in admitting his prior DUI conviction under OCGA § 24-4-417 (a) (1) as relevant to prove knowledge and under OCGA § 24-4-404 (b) as relevant to prove intent. He argues that the fact he was previously convicted of DUI is not relevant to his knowledge or intent. We disagree.

OCGA § 24-4-417 (a) (1) provides in pertinent part that in DUI prosecutions, evidence of the commission of another DUI “on a different occasion by the same accused shallbe admissible when: (1) [t]he accused refused in the current case to take the state administered test required . . . and such evidence is relevant to prove knowledge . . . (emphasis supplied). The statute “contains a presumption in favor of the admission of [such] evidence.” State v. Frost, 297 Ga. 296, 302 (773 SE2d 700) (2015) (citation omitted). Proof of Monroe’s prior DUI conviction could strengthen the inference that the factfinder could draw from Monroe’s refusal to take the state-administered test this time, that had he done so, it would have shown the presence of alcohol. Id. at 304. “This is so because ...

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Bluebook (online)
797 S.E.2d 245, 340 Ga. App. 373, 2017 WL 715967, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monroe-v-the-state-gactapp-2017.