Following a jury trial, a Whitfield County jury found Duandre Jamar Dorsey guilty of failure to yield the right of way upon entering a roadway (“failure to yield”),
Viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict,
After receiving the license, the officer asked Dorsey to step out of the car. Dorsey denied having consumed any alcohol but submitted to field sobriety tests. On the horizontal gaze nystagmus (“HGN”) test, Dorsey exhibited six of six possible clues. On the nine-step walk and turn test, Dorsey raised his hands away from his body to maintain his balance, stepped off the line several times, missed several heel-to-toe steps, and turned in the wrong direction, after which he lost balance and stepped off the line. During the one-leg stand test, the officer
After completing the field sobriety tests, the officer administered an alco-sensor breath test. On the fifth attempt at blowing into the machine,
Dorsey began to struggle as the officer attempted to handcuff him. Dorsey turned around, pushed the officer away, ran to the driver’s side of his car and got inside. The officer followed. According to the officer, “the car took off with . . . both of us in it.” As the car moved forward, the officer’s upper body was in the car’s doorway, and he held onto the door frame while commanding Dorsey to stop. The officer was thrown from the vehicle, and he suffered a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder.
After the officer called for help, other officers soon found Dorsey’s car backed into two parking spaces at an apartment complex. They found open and closed containers of alcoholic beverages in the vehicle. Three days later, acting on a tip, police entered a house and found Dorsey hiding under a large pile of clothes in the laundry room.
A Whitfield County grand jury indicted Dorsey for failure to yield, DUI less safe, reckless driving, escape, aggravated battery upon a peace officer, two counts of giving a false name to a law enforcement officer, two counts of causing serious injury by vehicle, and two counts of obstruction of a law enforcement officer. Following a trial, the jury acquitted Dorsey of aggravated battery upon a peace officer but found him guilty on all other counts.
On appeal, Dorsey contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial because the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for failure to yield, DUI less safe, and serious injury by vehicle.
1. OCGA § 40-6-73 provides that “[t]he driver of a vehicle about to enter or cross a roadway from any place other than another roadway shall yield the right of way to all vehicles approaching on the roadway to be entered or crossed.” According to the arresting officer, Dorsey entered Chattanooga Road from the parking lot of a bar and restaurant. The officer testified that as a result Dorsey almost caused a collision in that “[t]he oncoming traffic came close to striking [Dorsey’s] vehicle broadside on the driver’s side door.” Dorsey argues that no accident occurred, there was no video of the event, and the relevant evidence was presented through one officer’s uncorroborated testimony. Nevertheless, with exceptions not applicable here, the testimony of a single witness is sufficient to establish a fact.
2. OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (1) provides that “[a] person shall not drive or be in actual physical control of any moving vehicle while ... [u]nder the influence of alcohol to the extent that it is less safe for the person to drive.” Dorsey contends that his driving and behavior were not consistent with someone who was under the influence of alcohol.*
3. OCGA § 40-6-394 provides, as applicable here, that “[w]ho-ever, without malice, shall cause bodily harm to another ... by rendering a member of his body useless . . . through the violation of Code Section... 40-6-391 shall be guilty of the crime of serious injury by vehicle.” Dorsey does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to establish that he caused the officer bodily harm for purposes of the crime. Rather, he asserts that the evidence was not sufficient to show that he violated OCGA § 40-6-391, as required by the statute. However, as discussed supra, the evidence was sufficient to show that Dorsey was guilty of DUI less safe. Accordingly, we find that any rational trier of fact could have found Dorsey guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of serious injury by vehicle.
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
OCGA § 40-6-73.
OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (1).
OCGA § 40-6-394.
Dorsey was also found guilty of reckless driving, escape, serious injury by vehicle through violation of OCGA § 40-6-390, two counts of giving a false name to a law enforcement officer, and two counts of obstruction of a law enforcement officer. He does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions on these counts.
See Drammeh v. State,
The officer testified that on previous attempts Dorsey had either not blown hard enough into the tube or had blown too hard.
For purposes of sentencing, the trial court merged Dorsey’s conviction for Count 5, causing serious injury by vehicle through the violation of OCGA § 40-6-390 (reckless driving) into Count 4, causing serious injury by vehicle through the violation of OCGA § 40-6-391 (DUI). See OCGA § 40-6-394. The trial court also merged Count 2, DUI less safe, into Count 4.
Sidner v. State,
See former OCGA § 24-4-8 (2012). Dorsey was tried before January 1, 2013, the effective date of the new Evidence Code.
See, e.g., Cecil v. State,
Although the trial court merged Dorsey’s conviction for DUI less safe into his conviction for serious injury by vehicle, “proof that [Dorsey] was guilty of DUI under OCGA § 40-6-391 is a required element for convicting him of serious injury by vehicle under OCGA § 40-6-394.” Garrett v. State,
Dorsey also suggests that “flashlights” can interfere with the HGN test, but the testimony to which he refers shows that, according to the arresting officer, “[t]he flashing lights can interfere with my ability to detect the bouncing of the eyes,” and “[t]hat’s why I shut them off.”
See, e.g., Hinton v. State,