Myers v. State

The trial court properly charged the jury that driving under the influence and driving on the wrong side of the road are malum prohibitum crimes and, thus, the defendant's lack of intent was immaterial.

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A Coweta County jury convicted Deanise Michelle Myers of five counts of driving under the influence “DUI”. Myers received a misdemeanor sentence of one day to serve in jail and twelve months of probation. She was also ordered to do community service and to pay a fine.1 On appeal, Myers asserts four enumerations of error, three of which challenge the sufficiency of the evidence and the last of which asserts that the trial court erred in its charge to the jury. We affirm. Viewed in support of the verdict, the evidence shows that Corporal Chris Segrest of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office arrested Myers for driving under the influence after he stopped her car for failure to maintain the lane of travel. Segrest testified that Myers’ speech was slurred and her eyes were glassy; that a strong odor of alcohol emanated from her breath and she was unsteady on her feet; that Myers appeared to be wearing pajamas; and that she admitted that she had two glasses of wine earlier that evening and had taken Xanax and Ambien. Segrest further testified that he gave Myers an alcosensor test, the results of which were positive for alcohol and that he took her to a hospital where a blood alcohol test was conducted.

GBI forensic toxicologist Leigh Champion testified that Myers’ blood alcohol content was .093. Troy Dettmering, also a forensic toxicologist, testified that Myers’ blood sample showed that she had ingested a therapeutic amount of Xanax consistent with the common dosage prescribed by physicians, but that the amount of Ambien in her blood was two to three times the commonly prescribed dosage. According to Dettmering, the consumption of alcohol, Xanax, and Ambien would have caused a lack of muscular coordination and mental cloudiness.

Myers v. State

The trial court properly charged the jury that driving under the influence and driving on the wrong side of the road are malum prohibitum crimes and, thus, the defendant's lack of intent was immaterial.

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