A Jackson County jury found Chris Gene Leachman guilty of vehicular homicide, OCGA § 40-6-393. Leachman appeals from the judgment of conviction, contending the trial court erred in denying his plea in bar. Finding no error, we affirm. Leachman contends the trial court erred in denying his plea in bar by allowing the State to prosecute him for vehicular homicide when the statute of limitation had run on the vehicular homicide’s predicate offense, driving under the influence of alcohol DUI, OCGA § 40-6-391. When a question of law is at issue, such as whether the statute of limitation bars an action, “we owe no deference to the trial court’s ruling and apply the plain legal error standard of review.” Citation, punctuation, and footnote omitted. Epps v. Hin , 255 Ga. App. 370, 371 565 SE2d 577 2002; Wright v. State , 284 Ga. App. 169 643 SE2d 538 2007. The relevant facts are as follows.
On January 1, 2003, Leachman’s wife, who was a passenger in the car he was driving, was fatally injured in a car accident that occurred as a result of Leachman’s intoxication.1 Over three years later, on March 7, 2006, the grand jury issued a true bill of indictment charging Leachman in Counts 1 and 2 with the vehicular homicide of his wife, OCGA § 40-6-393, and in Counts 3 and 4 with DUI, OCGA § 40-6-391. Following a hearing on Leachman’s plea in bar, the State conceded the DUI counts were time-barred2 and, therefore, redacted the indictment to omit those counts. The trial court denied Leachman’s plea in bar with respect to the vehicular homicide counts, allowing the State to go forward with its prosecution on the redacted indictment. Both of these alternate counts alleged that Leachman caused the victim’s death “by committing the offense of driving under the influence,” pursuant to OCGA § 40-6-391 a. Count 1 alleged DUI in that Leachman had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams or greater, and Count 2 in that Leachman was intoxicated to the extent he was a less safe driver. After the jury returned its guilty verdicts, the trial court merged Count 2 into Count 1.
