From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Brannan v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
May 1, 1990
195 Ga. App. 709 (Ga. Ct. App. 1990)

Opinion

A90A0299.

DECIDED MAY 1, 1990. REHEARING DENIED MAY 22, 1990.

D.U.I. Troup State Court. Before Judge Little.

Virgil L. Brown Associates, Virgil L. Brown, Bentley C. Adams III Eric D. Hearn, for appellant.

Daniel W. Lee, Solicitor, for appellee.


Appellant was tried before a jury and found guilty of driving under the influence in violation of OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (4). He appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentence entered by the trial court on the jury's guilty verdict.

1. The enumeration of error which addresses the trial court's denial of a motion to quash the accusation is controlled adversely to appellant's contentions by the holding in Fletcher v. State, 157 Ga. App. 707 (2) ( 278 S.E.2d 444) (1981).

2. The trial court's denial of appellant's motion in limine to exclude the results of an intoximeter test of his breath is enumerated as error. We note at the outset that our consideration of this enumeration is confined to the evidence that was adduced in the hearing on the motion in limine and that such evidence as may have been adduced during the subsequent trial will not be considered.

Contrary to appellant's assertions, the evidence adduced in the hearing on the motion in limine did not show that he had requested, but was denied the opportunity to have an additional test conducted by a qualified person of his own choosing. The evidence showed only that appellant had requested that the officer conduct another intoximeter test and that, although the officer had agreed to do so, appellant never availed himself of the opportunity to be retested.

With regard to appellant's challenge to the reliability of the results of the test, his expert's testimony on that issue was irrelevant in the context of the motion in limine. The admissibility of test results is controlled by the provisions of OCGA § 40-6-392, and, so long as a test has been conducted in compliance with those statutory provisions, an expert's opinion which questions the reliability of the results of that test would have no bearing on the admissibility of those results into evidence. State v. Richardson, 186 Ga. App. 888 ( 368 S.E.2d 825) (1988). A review of the hearing on appellant's motion in limine clearly shows that the trial court did not err in denying the motion. See generally Fletcher v. State, supra at 707 (1).

3. The results of the intoximeter test showed that appellant's blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent. The credibility of the attack by appellant's expert upon the reliability of these results was for the jury. See Clay v. State, 193 Ga. App. 377 ( 387 S.E.2d 644) (1989). Compare State v. Richardson, supra. The evidence, viewed most favorably for the State, was more than sufficient to authorize a rational trior of fact to find that appellant had violated OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (4) beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560) (1979). Accordingly, appellant's enumeration of the general grounds is without merit.

4. The trial court did not err in charging the jury on the definition of "alcohol concentration" contained in OCGA § 40-1-1 (1). Appellant was charged with a crime wherein the "alcohol concentration" of his blood was an element of the offense. Accordingly, the trial court was certainly authorized to charge the jury on the statutory definition of "alcohol concentration." See generally Blount v. State, 172 Ga. App. 120, 126 (17) ( 322 S.E.2d 323) (1984).

Judgment affirmed. McMurray, P. J., and Sognier, J., concur.

DECIDED MAY 1, 1990 — REHEARING DENIED MAY 22, 1990 — CERT. APPLIED FOR.


Summaries of

Brannan v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
May 1, 1990
195 Ga. App. 709 (Ga. Ct. App. 1990)
Case details for

Brannan v. State

Case Details

Full title:BRANNAN v. THE STATE

Court:Court of Appeals of Georgia

Date published: May 1, 1990

Citations

195 Ga. App. 709 (Ga. Ct. App. 1990)
394 S.E.2d 562

Citing Cases

Brannan v. State

DECIDED FEBRUARY 28, 1991. RECONSIDERATION DENIED MARCH 27, 1991. Certiorari to the Court of Appeals of…

Poston v. State

Brannan v. State ("[t]he credibility of the attack by [the] appellant's expert upon the reliability of these…