Simply put, driving drunk is dangerous. When one is intoxicated, his or her vision and judgment can be impaired and one’s reaction time can be delayed, affecting a driver’s ability to operate a vehicle safely. Oftentimes, accidents involving intoxicated drivers result in serious or fatal injuries because these drivers are not always able to react to hazards on the road as quickly as sober drivers are able to. In other cases, intoxicated drivers are responsible for making poor decisions that lead to motor vehicle accidents.
In Georgia, motorists accused of being intoxicated at the time of a car accident will most likely face felony charges regardless of whether or not they have been charged with DUI before. In the event of a fatal accident, the individual could be charged with vehicular homicide in the first degree. Although the loss of one’s life in an accident is never to be taken lightly, one’s rights are never to be taken lightly either when DUI charges are filed.
On Mother’s Day 2009, an Athens woman was tragically killed in a car accident. After the crash, another woman was accused of causing the accident and was later convicted of drunk driving and first-degree homicide by vehicle. However, the woman claimed that she was innocent and that she was not even driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.
Now the woman, who is currently serving 25 years in prison for the fatal accident, is asking a judge for a new trial. She claims that someone else was driving her SUV when it ran a red light and crashed into a Nissan Sentra at 60 mph. A woman in the Nissan was killed in the crash. Two others in the Nissan were injured.
After testifying in her first trial that she was a passenger in the SUV, prosecutors claimed that the woman was lying. A jury later concluded that the woman was guilty of the charges. The woman is seeking a new trial maintaining that she is not guilty of the offense that she is now serving 25 years behind bars for.
Source: Athens Banner-Herald, “DUI driver in fatal Mother’s Day wreck wants new trial,” Joe Johnson, Feb. 27, 2012