In April 2010, a Dawson County deputy sheriff stopped Noah Stewart, who was driving his motorcycle on State Route 400, for driving too fast. When the deputy discovered that Stewart had a suspended license, the deputy arrested him, and Stewart subsequently was charged with driving while his license was suspended1 and three other misdemeanor traffic offenses.2 Stewart eventually pled guilty to these traffic offenses, but before he did, he attempted to convince the prosecuting attorney that, at the time of the stop, he was lawfully operating his motorcycle under a limited driving permit,3 which apparently allowed him to drive when he was engaged in the business of his employer. To this end, Stewart allegedly caused a letter to be written and sent to the prosecuting attorney in September or October 2010, which purports to be written by an officer of “CSF Invest” and represents that Stewart is employed by “CSF Invest” as a “real estate research and assessment assistant.” In addition, Stewart allegedly gave a statement to an investigator for the prosecuting attorney in October 2010, in which Stewart represented that he was employed with “CSF Investments” as a real property evaluator. The State contends that these representations are false, and it indicted Stewart for making a false statement4 and tampering with evidence,5 all in an effort to obstruct his prosecution for the traffic offenses.
Stewart entered his plea of guilty to the traffic offenses, however, before the indictment for the obstruction charges was returned.6 Based on this sequence of events, Stewart filed a plea in bar with respect to the obstruction indictment. In his plea in bar, Stewart argued that his prosecution on the obstruction charges was barred by OCGA § 16-1-7 b, which, generally speaking, forbids the separate prosecution of crimes “arising from the same conduct,” so long as the prosecuting attorney knew of all the crimes when the first prosecution was commenced, and so long as all the crimes are within the jurisdiction of the same court.7 Stewart reasoned that the traffic charges to which he had already pled guilty and the crimes that he allegedly committed months later in an effort to obstruct the prosecution of the traffic charges were crimes “arising from the same conduct.” The court below accepted these arguments and granted the plea in bar. The State appeals, contending that the traffic charges and obstruction charges do not arise from the same conduct.8 We agree and reverse the judgment below.
