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JENKINS v. STATE10/11/1996
Defendant was indicted for operating a motor vehicle after having received notice that his driver's license had been revoked for being a habitual violator, driving under the influence of alcohol to the extent that it was less safe for him to drive, operating a motor vehicle without proof of insurance, operating a motor vehicle without insurance and driving too fast for conditions. The evidence adduced at a jury trial reveals that defendant drove a car into the rear of a "Savannah Transit CAT bus" shortly before 7:00 p.m. on December 24, 1993. Officer Lucy Coleman of the Savannah Police Department testified that she arrived at the scene immediately after the collision, found defendant "behind [the wrecked car's] driver's wheel slumped over" and smelled alcohol emanating from defendant's body. Officer Coleman further testified that defendant was "mumbling and . . . was very incoherent . . ." after the collision; that defendant stumbled twice as she led him to her patrol car and that defendant gave her a "Georgia State ID card" instead of a driver's license when she asked him for his driver's license and proof of insurance. Officer Coleman explained that she ran an on-the-scene check of defendant's driving record and discovered that defendant held the status of a "habitual violator."
Department of Corrections Probation Officer Wanda Miller testified that she observed defendant receive a form providing notice of defendant's driver's license revocation and habitual violator status on June 29, 1993, almost six months before defendant rear-ended the "Savannah Transit CAT bus." Officer Miller also testified that she witnessed defendant sign this form under a section which provides - "I HAVE PERSONALLY RECEIVED SERVICE OF HABITUAL VIOLATOR REVOCATION ORDER[;]" that she acknowledged defendant's
signature by signing the habitual violator notice form as a witness and that this transaction occurred in open court before the State Court of Chatham County, Georgia. Defendant did not dispute this testimony, explaining instead that he did not understand the acknowledgement form when he signed it because he "could have been intoxicated at the time. . . ." Defendant further explained that, although he executed the habitual violator notice form on June 29, 1993, he "officially . . . wasn't notified from Atlanta —" about his habitual violator status until January 8, 1994, over two weeks after the "Savannah Transit CAT bus" collision when he received a habitual violator notice, via registered mail, from the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
Defendant admitted on cross-examination that he did not have proof of insurance on him when he rear-ended the "Savannah Transit CAT bus," but insisted that the car he was driving was insured at the time of the collision. Defendant volunteered (upon direct examination), however, that he did not bring his insurance card (apparently evidencing proof of this coverage) to trial "because sold the vehicle sometime last year[, during 1994]." The driver of the "Savannah Transit CAT bus" testified that he was injured by the collision and that defendant did not have automobile liability insurance coverage at the time of the collision.
The State proved that defendant was convicted less than six months before the "Savannah Transit CAT bus" collision for committing four separate acts of driving under the influence of alcohol; that these convictions were based on guilty pleas defendant entered before the State Court of Chatham County on June 29, 1993, and that the separate incidents underlying these prior driving under the influence of alcohol convictions occurred less than 11 months before defendant rear-ended the "Savannah Transit CAT bus." The State also proved tha
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