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 by former city attorney Rick Lindsey along with Christy

Jindra and Martin Jones.

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