Wallace v. State
Wallace v. State
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I concur fully in Division 1 of the opinion, that is, that the conviction of the defendant (by plea of guilty) in the Recorder’s Court of the City of Macon was void. I think that proposition is conceded by all concerned, but the question here is whether the revocation of the defendant’s license by the Department of Public Safety, based upon such void conviction, is itself void and of no effect and subject to
The majority opinion, in Division 2, holds that a valid conviction is jurisdictional as to the revocation of the driver’s license. In my opinion, the certification of the conviction is mere evidence upon which the judicial determination of revocation is made. See Central of Ga. R. Co. v. Wright, 5 Ga. App. 514, supra; Carr v. City Council of Augusta, 124 Ga. 116, supra, cited and quoted from above and holding that the certification of the conviction is evidence upon which a judicial determination is made. As in fraudulent debtors’ attachment cases (see Code §§ 8-401, 8-403) which issue ex parte based upon evidence under oath, the act granting the attachment is judicial and “with a proper order behind it [in this case the order of revocation], the testimony on which the judge acted in granting it is not examinable collaterally, . . .” Loeb v. Smith Bros. & Co., 78 Ga. 504 (3 SE 458).
Another ground upon which the majority apparently base their holding is that the revocation of the license by the Director of the Department of Public Safety is additional punishment based upon the prior conviction and, in effect, but a continuation of the same case, such as attacks on void alimony judgments in answer to a contempt citation, and affidavits of illegality to executions issued upon void judgments. This position is untenable because the statute itself provides for the punishment by authorizing the judge to revoke a license as part of the punishment. Subdivision (d), § 47, Art. Y of the Act approved January 11, 1954 (Ga. L. 1953, Nov. Sess., pp. 556, 577), as amended by the Act approved March 9, 1956 (Ga. L. 1956, pp. 674, 675); Code Ann. § 68-9927.
While, where a person is arraigned and convicted (upon plea of guilty) and sentenced for the offense of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants in a court which is without jurisdiction of such offense, the conviction and the sentence is void and a mere nullity (Code § 110-709), yet, so long as the revocation of a driver’s license based on such conviction stands unreversed by a hearing or appeal as above provided, or other proper proceedings for that
I am authorized to state that Judges Hall and Eberhardt join me in this dissent.
Opinion of the Court
1. The Recorder’s Court of the City of Macon has no jurisdiction to arraign, try and sentence for the offense of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants (City of Atlanta v. Landers, 212 Ga. 111, 90 SE2d 583), there being a city court for the trial of such offenses in Bibb County where the City of Macon is located. See Clarke v. Johnson, 199 Ga. 163 (33 SE2d 425), construing the amendment of 1937, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II of the Constitution of the State of Georgia of 1877, now Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II of the Constitution of the State of Georgia of 1945 (Code Ann. § 2-4102). Whether or not the Recorder’s Court of the City of Macon would have jurisdiction to arraign, try and sentence for the offense of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants in violation of a city ordinance, under the provisions of § 1 of the Act approved March 16, 1955, amending the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Ga. L. 1955, pp. 736, 737; Code Ann. § 68-1680) is not presented for decision in the present case, it not appearing that the charge upon which the defendant was convicted was the violation of a city ordinance, or that there was such an ordinance.
2. The Director of the Department of Public Safety has jurisdiction of the subject matter of revocation of driver’s licenses upon receiving the certification of the driver’s conviction of the offense of “driving a motor vehicle while under the influence
3. Where a person is convicted and sentenced for the offense of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants in a court which is without jurisdiction of such offense, the conviction and sentence is void and a mere nullity (Code §§ 110-701, 110-709); and the revocation of a driver’s license based upon such conviction, being at most merely additional punishment based upon the prior conviction, is also void and a mere nullity and such a revocation will not authorize a conviction for operating a motor vehicle with a revoked license.
4. Upon application of the above rulings to the facts of the present case, the trial judge, to whom the case was submitted upon stipulated facts without the intervention of a jury, erred in finding the defendant guilty of violation of the Act of 1937 (Ga. L. 1937, pp. 322, 352; Code Ann. § 92A-9913).
Judgment reversed.
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