Puett v. State

• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: WEBB; QUILLIAN, P. J., and McMURRAY
• Citation: Puett v. State, 147 Ga.App. 300, 248 S.E.2d 560 (Ga. App. 1978)
• Decision Date: 25 September 1978
• Docket Number: No. 56567,56567
• Parties: PUETT v. The STATE.

Page 560

248 S.E.2d 560

147 Ga.App. 300

PUETT v. The STATE.

No. 56567.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Submitted Sept. 7, 1978.

Decided Sept. 25, 1978.

Carr & Beck, Claude S. Beck, Blairsville, for appellant.

V. D. Stockton, Dist. Atty., Michael H. Crawford, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.

WEBB, Judge.

Raymond Douglas Puett appeals his conviction of the offense of driving under the influence of intoxicating beverages, contending principally that the evidence was insufficient and that he should have been granted a directed verdict of not guilty because he was not provided a reasonable opportunity to have a physician or other qualified person of his own choosing administer a chemical test as to his alcoholic content, as provided by Code Ann. § 68A-902.1(a)(3). We reverse.

The record shows that the accused was indeed advised of this right to an independent test by a qualified person of his own choosing, that a telephone conversation was had from the jail by the accused with an attendant at the local hospital in which he was informed that such a test could be made if he would come to the hospital, that the accused so informed the personnel at the jail where he was under arrest, and that those holding him under arrest either refused or in any event failed to take him to the hospital for that purpose.

The law gives one accused of driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages the right to have a chemical analysis of his...