Is a Lawn Mower a Motor Vehicle? Man's Felony Theft Sentence Could Ride on the Answer

Greg Bluestein

The Associated Press

July 14, 2009

It has four wheels, a powerful engine and can hit speeds up to 40 mph. But is a riding lawn mower technically a motor vehicle?

That odd question confronted the Georgia Supreme Court Monday after a man appealed a 10-year sentence for swiping a riding mower from a Home Depot store.

The justices must decide whether to clip the prison term of Franklin Lloyd Harris, who was convicted of felony motor vehicle theft. The court's decision could also help clarify what lawyers say is a murky definition for "motor vehicles" that may also extend beyond lawnmowers.

The case stems from Harris' arrest in 2006. He was found guilty of felony motor vehicle theft after he loaded a Toro riding mower from a Home Depot in Dalton into his van and sped away. Since Harris was a repeat offender, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

His attorneys urged the trial judge and later the Georgia Court of Appeals to throw out the charge on grounds that a riding mower is not considered a motor vehicle by state law. But both courts were unconvinced.

Michael McCarthy, a public defender, pressed the case before Georgia's top court. He told the justices that while Harris should still be charged with theft, he shouldn't be punished as if he had stolen a car.

A riding lawnmower is many things -- an efficient grass cutter, a modern mechanical marvel -- but McCarthy said it's not a motor vehicle under state law.

"The term 'motor vehicle' is not crystal," he told the judges. "There is no universal or definitive meaning for motor vehicle."

Instead, he said state law defines a vehicle as a device which can transport people or property on a highway. Since the riding lawnmower was never driven on a road during the theft, it shouldn't be considered a vehicle, he argued.

Prosecutors counter that the vague vehicle definition cuts both ways.

Georgia law also defines a motor vehicle as a "self-propelled" device -- and there's no doubt that the riding lawn mower is self-propelled, said Scott Helton, an assistant district attorney.

He said defense attorneys are pushing an unrealistic definition of what a vehicle is.

After all, a NASCAR race car isn't designed to roam city streets or transport people and property from one place to another. But if the car was stolen, Helton said, there's little doubt the suspect would be charged with stealing a motor vehicle.

Lawyers said the case is likely to set a precedent in Georgia. It comes as other courts around the country grapple with similar concerns about whether riding lawnmowers and similar devices should be classified as vehicles.

Kile Wygle of Ohio drew worldwide headlines when he was charged in March with driving under the influence after he crashed his motorized bar stool. He pleaded guilty and spent three days in jail. And prosecutors from West Virginia to Oregon have charged suspects with driving under the influence after catching them prowling the streets on lawnmowers, golf carts and even a tricycle.