State v. Mussman
Annotate this CaseDefendant was indicted for homicide by vehicle in July 2008 where he was accused of causing the other occupant of the car's death by recklessly speeding and failing to maintain his lane. When defendant's attorney hired an investigator to find the car, the car had been purchased by a salvager in January 2008 who cleaned, repaired, repainted, and resold the vehicle. At issue was whether the Court of Appeals erred in its application of OCGA 17-5-56(a) and in holding that the State committed a due process violation in failing to preserve evidence. The court held that, by holding that OCGA 17-5-56(a) would require governmental entities to maintain not only biological materials but also the sources of such biological materials, the Court of Appeals had gone beyond the plain language of the statute and offered an interpretation that lead to an absurd result. The court also held that there was simply no evidence of record that the police were acting in bad faith when they followed the standard policy of releasing evidence in vehicular homicide cases that they considered to be solved. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals had no basis in the record for disturbing the factual findings of the trial court and judgment was reversed.
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