The Georgia

Supreme Court heard arguments Monday morning in a Peachtree City case

over whether the city can use a traffic citation to charge a suspect with

a state crime.

The city is

appealing a ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals which reversed the

municipal court conviction of Eric Shaver for underage possession of alcohol.

Shaver's attorneys, Lloyd Walker and Joe Saia, have argued that he was

improperly charged when he was issued a traffic citation for the non-traffic

offense by the Peachtree City Police Department.

Christy Jindra

of Webb, Lindsey, Collins, Jones and Wade argued the case on behalf of

Peachtree City. It is not known when the Supreme Court will issue its

ruling.

City Attorney

Rick Lindsey said the traffic citations "provide all the constitutionally

required information" for charging a person with a crime.

The issue is

a matter of preserving due process for those accused of violating the

law, Lindsey added.

When the Supreme

Court agreed to hear arguments in the case, it specifically questioned

whether the Court of Appeals erred in its previous decision to overturn

Shaver's conviction.

The Court of

Appeals ruled in favor of Peachtree City in a similar case where a defendant

was charged with underage possession of alcohol by using a traffic citation.

The difference in that case was that the suspect was charged with violation

of a city ordinance while Shaver was charged with violation of a state

ordinance.

State law empowers

municipal courts to hear some minor misdemeanor cases such as underage

possession of alcohol and first offense misdemeanor marijuana possession

cases, Lindsey noted.

In May, a new

Georgia law was signed that allows police to use state traffic citations

to prosecute alleged violations of state law. But that law doesn't retroactively

cover previous cases, meaning prior municipal court convictions could

be called into question.

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