Court Opinion

ID: 9575907
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:18:31.20393+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:29.683431
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge.
Via a three-count accusation, defendant was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol in violation of OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (1) (Count 1) and OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (4) (Count 2). He was also charged with driving a motor vehicle without effective insurance. Counts 2 and 3 were dismissed by the State and Count 1 was submitted to a jury. Defendant was found guilty on Count 1 of the accusation and a sentence of 12 months and a fine of $1,000 were imposed. *512Defendant appeals. Held:
1. OCGA § 40-6-391 is not unconstitutionally vague. Steele v. State, 260 Ga. 835 (400 SE2d 1). The trial court did not err in overruling defendant’s “motion to dismiss and plea in bar” and “motion to quash” the accusation.
2. The evidence was sufficient to enable any rational trier of fact to find defendant guilty of driving under the influence beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560); Ragan v. State, 191 Ga. App. 374, 375 (2) (381 SE2d 589).
3. The trial court erred in charging the burden-shifting language of OCGA § 40-6-392 (b) (3). Simon v. State, 182 Ga. App. 210, 212 (4) (355 SE2d 120); Peters v. State, 175 Ga. App. 463, 466 (2) (333 SE2d 436). This error requires the reversal of defendant’s conviction inasmuch as he was tried only for violating OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (1). Cf. Simon v. State, 182 Ga. App. 210, 212 (4), supra.
We cannot accept the minority’s harmless error analysis. In determining whether a constitutionally infirm charge is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, we examine a two-prong test: (1) whether the charge pertained to a matter which the jury had to decide and, if so, (2) whether the charge so invaded the province of the jury that we would have to say that the court, rather than the jury, tried the case. Lewis v. State, 180 Ga. App. 890, 891 (351 SE2d 100).
It is obvious that the trial court’s charge pertained to a matter which the jury needed to address. The first prong of the test is clearly satisfied.
As to the second prong, we are not prepared to say that the trial court’s charge did not influence the jury’s deliberations. True, there was evidence which would lead the jury to conclude that defendant operated a car under the influence of alcohol to the extent that it was less safe for him to drive: The arresting officer testified that defendant smelled of alcohol, swayed and perspired, had red eyes and a flushed face. But the evidence did not demand such a conclusion. The officer acknowledged, for example, that there were other reasons for defendant to be red in the face and to perspire. (After all, the incident took place in Pike County, Georgia, on July 30, 1989.) More importantly, the officer admitted that he talked with defendant for “several minutes” before he decided that defendant was under the influence of alcohol.
We cannot say the trial court’s erroneous, burden-shifting charge was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, defendant’s conviction must be reversed.
4. The remaining enumerated errors are unlikely to occur upon retrial.

Judgment reversed.

Sognier, C. J., Banke, P. J., Birdsong, P. J., Carley, Pope and Cooper, JJ., concur. Beasley, J., concurs in Divi
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sions 1, 2 and 4, and in the judgment. Andrews, J., dissents.