According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oscar for Most Dangerous City in Georgia goes to (drum roll, please) Columbus.
According to the analysis, Columbus recorded Property crimes made up over half of the 11,052 offenses reported during the survey period.
Researchers cautioned that the rankings, which are based on the total number of offenses reported, are not adjusted for population. So, according to the rankings, large cities are inherently more dangerous than small ones.
Reinforcing that point, the safest city in Georgia, according to an independent survey, is Senoia, a small town in metro Atlanta.
Types of Crimes in Georgia
Municipal size isn’t the only factor that determines safety or hazard. These surveys took into account all four mens rea (criminal intent) categories of criminal convictions.
Negligently/Recklessly
Most regulatory offenses are negligent and reckless offenses, and most regulatory offenses are traffic offenses. Lack of intent isn’t a defense to a traffic ticket. When a speeding ticket goes to court, prosecutors don’t have to prove intent. They must only prove velocity, at least in most cases.
That being said, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer can successfully challenge the evidence in a speeding ticket case, susually by challenging the enforcement method, as follows:
- Pacing: The officer uses his/her speed to guess the speed of another vehicle. This guess is only accurate in some situations.
- RADAR: RAdio Detection and Ranging devices, which use the Doppler shift to measure a vehicle’s speed, are accurate at close range.
- LIDAR: Light Detection and Ranging devices, which bounce a laser beam off a specific vehicle, are accurate at close and long range.
Since the posted speed limit is a presumptively reasonable speed under ideal conditions, a speeding ticket could hold up in court if the driver was traveling under or over the speed limit. Prosecutors normally shy away from such cases because they’re much harder to prove.
Reckless driving, which is basically a traffic ticket on steroids, is also a regulatory offense, but it’s a misdemeanor. DUI is also a regulatory offense misdemeanor.
Proving a DUI is a lot like proving a traffic ticket. If the defendant failed a chemical test (exceeded the speed limit), the defendant is guilty as a matter of law, if the breath or blood test (enforcement method) was accurate. If the defendant refused to provide a chemical sample, prosecutors must use circumstantial evidence (unreasonable speed) to prove intoxication. Poor performance on the field sobriety tests is the primary evidence in this area.
Intentionally
In a nutshell, intentionally means the defendant knew his/her conduct was illegal, and the defendant didn’t care.
Most misdemeanor offenses are intentional offenses. Battery is a good example of both the mens rea and defenses to this requirement.
Typically, “intentional” refers to the conduct, not to the result. The state must prove Joe intentionally (as opposed to accidentally) hit Mary. The state doesn’t have to prove Joe intentionally injured Mary, at least in an ordinary battery case.
Normally, prosecutors use conduct to prove intent. A slight injury could indicate lack of intent. Sometimes people fall down the stairs or walk into doors. Intent is especially hard to prove in these cases if a Marietta criminal defense lawyer undermines the alleged victim’s testimony at trial.
Lawyers walk a fine line in this area. If a Marietta criminal defense lawyer is too relaxed, the truth doesn’t come out. But if a Marietta criminal defense lawyer is too aggressive, s/he antagonizes the jury.
Willfully
Most felony offenses add another intent level. Generally, the defendant knows the conduct is both illegal and harmful. Nevertheless, the defendant commits that act.
Murder is a good example. The defendant intends the conduct (hurting someone) and the result (killing someone). So, in court, the state must generally prove the act was intentional, as outlined above, and also prove the defendant harbored ill will against the alleged victim.
A few misdemeanor offenses are willful specific intent crimes. For example, theft is the intent to take property and permanently deprive the owner of the full use of that property.
Common Criminal Defenses in Georgia
These legal arguments or strategies challenge the prosecution’s case or reduce or eliminate criminal liability. Under Georgia law, every person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution bears the burden of proving each element of the alleged offense, while the defendant has the right to present evidence and legal defenses.
One common defense, particularly in violent crime cases, is self-defense. People may use reasonable force to protect themselves or others from an imminent threat of unlawful force. In certain situations, Georgia law also permits the use of deadly force, if a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent death, great bodily harm, or the commission of a forcible felony.
Suspect identification is an issue in many cases. For example, eyewitness testimony is often unreliable. Most crime witnesses are under extreme stress. This stress affects memory and recall. To shore up this weakness, prosecutors sometimes use lineup identifications. Such identifications often throw gasoline on the reliability fire. If an officer points at a line of people and says, “pick one,” most people will pick someone, even if they aren’t 100 percent sure.
On a related note, an alibi defense is available when defendants can show they were somewhere else at the time the crime occurred. Supporting evidence may include surveillance footage, receipts, electronic records, or testimony from credible witnesses. Significantly, this evidence doesn’t need to “prove” the alibi. The state has the burden of proof, as mentioned above. Alibi evidence must only cast a reasonable doubt on identification testimony.
Duress may apply when a person committed a criminal act because they were threatened with immediate serious harm and had no reasonable opportunity to escape the situation. Entrapment is available when law enforcement officers improperly persuade or induce a person to commit a crime they otherwise would not have committed.
Ultimately, the success of any criminal defense depends on the specific facts of the case, the available evidence, and the applicable Georgia statutes and court decisions.
All types of criminal convictions in all jurisdictions have severe direct and collateral consequences. For a free consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Marietta, contact the Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We routinely handle matters in Cobb County and nearby jurisdictions.
