Four Fatal Crashes in a Week in Cobb County

There have been four fatal accidents reported in Cobb County in the last week.

One of the crashes occurred on Saturday, and it involved a motorcycle along with another vehicle. The other three incidents involved vehicle-vehicle crashes. There was a total of four fatalities as well as several serious injuries of both drivers and passengers in the various vehicles.

As a Georgia DUI Lawyer, I will outline the law behind the criminal offense of vehicular homicide in today's post. As of right now - none of the drivers have been charged in relation to the deaths but all incidents are still under investigation.

Homicide by Vehicle in Georgia

Homicide by Vehicle in Georgia is defined in the Georgia Code in O.C.G.A. §40-6-393. Vehicular homicide is when a death results from some sort of traffic violation. The law divides the offense into vehicular homicide in the first degree and vehicular homicide in the second degree. I will outline both degrees below.

Vehicular homicide in the first degree is defined in the first part of the law as:

Any person who, without malice aforethought, causes the death of another person through the violation of subsection (a) of Code Section 40-6-163, Code Section 40-6-390 or 40-6-391, or subsection (a) of Code Section 40-6-395 commits the offense of homicide by vehicle in the first degree and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than three years nor more than 15 years.

(b) Any driver of a motor vehicle who, without malice aforethought, causes an accident which causes the death of another person and leaves the scene of the accident in violation of subsection (b) of Code Section 40-6-270 commits the offense of homicide by vehicle in the first degree and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than three years nor more than 15 years.

This means that if a person causes the death of another through the commission of any of the following offenses then he or she is guilty of vehicular homicide in the first degree. These offenses include: DUI in Georgia, Unlawful Passing of a School Bus in Georgia, Reckless Driving in Georgia, Leaving the Scene of an Accident in Georgia or Fleeing or Attempting to Elude an Officer in Georgia.

Vehicular homicide in the second degree is defined in the next part of the law as:

(c) Any person who causes the death of another person, without an intention to do so, by violating any provision of this title other than subsection (a) of Code Section 40-6-163, subsection (b) of Code Section 40-6-270, Code Section 40-6-390 or 40-6-391, or subsection (a) of Code Section 40-6-395 commits the offense of homicide by vehicle in the second degree when such violation is the cause of said death and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in Code Section 17-10-3.

This means that if a person causes the death of another through the commission of a traffic violation other than those listed in the first section of the law above, then he or she is guilty of vehicular homicide in the second degree. Some examples of offenses are: Speeding in Georgia, Failure to Maintain Lane in Georgia, Illegal Passing in Georgia, or Following Too Closely in Georgia.