2020 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 3 - Certificates of Title, Security Interests, and Liens
Article 4 - Offenses
§ 40-3-92. False Report of Theft or Conversion
A person who knowingly makes a false report to a peace officer or the commissioner of the theft or conversion of a vehicle shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.
(Ga. L. 1961, p. 68, § 33; Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 3; Ga. L. 1991, p. 969, § 1.)
Cross references.- Penalty for false report of crime generally, § 16-10-26.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Application of the rule of lenity.
- Defendant's conduct, as charged, subjected the defendant to prosecution and sentencing under both O.C.G.A. §§ 16-10-20 and16-10-26 as the defendant willfully and knowingly made a false statement to law-enforcement officers by falsely reporting a crime the defendant alleged to have occurred in the officers' jurisdiction. Because the two statutes provided different grades of punishment for the same criminal conduct, the defendant was entitled to the rule of lenity. Gordon v. State, 334 Ga. App. 633, 780 S.E.2d 376 (2015).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
C.J.S.
- 67 C.J.S., Obstructing Justice, § 16.
U.L.A.- Uniform Motor Vehicle Certificate of Title and Anti-Theft Act (U.L.A.) § 36.
