Court Opinion

ID: 9593470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:22:35.696602+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:54:10.453130
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I fully concur in all that is said in Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the majority opinion, and the judgment. However, I respectfully dissent with regard to Division 4 as I do not agree that the trial court properly admitted the results of defendant’s intoximeter test.
In the case sub judice, Officer Cook testified that Officer Rowry was “certified” to operate the “machine” that was used to test defendant’s breath and that “there was a certificate with Officer Rowry’s name on the wall . . . where we ran the intoximeter.” However, Officer Cook failed to testify that the certificate was issued by the Department of Public Safety or that Officer Rowry was certified by the State to operate the intoximeter machine. In fact, on cross-examination Officer Cook affirmed that he did not “know if [the intoximeter machine] had a permit. ...” This testimony was insufficient to establish a proper foundation for introduction into evidence of the results of defendant’s breath test. See Willoughby v. State, 153 Ga. App. 434, 435 (1) (265 SE2d 352). Compare Stewart v. State, 165 Ga. App. 62, 63 (2, 3) (299 SE2d 134).
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Banke, Judge Carley and Judge Sognier join in this opinion.