The Georgia Supreme Court has

ruled that Peachtree City properly used a traffic citation to charge a

local youth for underage possession of alcohol.

The decision, published last

week by the court, overturns a previous ruling by the Georgia Court of

Appeals, which had ruled the city could not charge Eric Shaver, who was

19 at the time, with underage possession of alcohol by using a traffic

citation.

The Supreme Court noted in

its opinion that Georgia law allows a citation to be used for someone

charged with underage possession of alcohol. The uniform traffic citation

met the criteria for qualifying as a "citation" for underage

possession of alcohol, the court ruled.

Shaver was convicted of the

offense in Peachtree City's municipal court in 1999. He later appealed

the case to Fayette County Superior Court, where the appeal was denied

before the Court of Appeals took up the issue and ruled in his favor.

Shaver's attorneys, Joe Saia

and Lloyd Walker, had argued that another Georgia law requires that the

uniform traffic citation be used only for traffic offenses. But that law

applies only to "superior, state, or county courts," not municipal

courts, the Supreme Court noted in its decision.

"But for the appearance

of the words "Uniform Traffic" at the top of the form, the propriety

of using the document as a citation ... would not even be an issue,"

wrote Justice P. Harris Hines in the court's opinion. "... And in

no manner did the inclusion of the words "Uniform Traffic" on

the citation prejudice Shaver's ability to defend the charge."

The Superior Court's decision

allows Shaver's conviction to stand. Previously the Court of Appeals ruled

the conviction should have been reversed.

Peachtree City was represented

Jones.

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