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Smith v. State

The defendant failed to comply with multiple requests of the officers during a traffic stop.

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Addie Smith appeals, pro se, from her convictions of driving without insurance, failure to register a vehicle, and two counts of obstruction of a law enforcement officer. She asserts insufficient evidence supports her obstruction convictions, that she received ineffective assistance of counsel, that her right to a speedy trial was violated, and numerous other alleged errors. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. 1. Smith asserts insufficient evidence supports her obstruction conviction because the State failed to prove that she knowingly and willingly obstructed or hindered the law enforcement officers. On appeal, we must view the evidence “in the light most favorable to the verdict and the appellant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence; moreover, on appeal this court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility.” Citation and punctuation omitted. Williams v. State , 217 Ga. App. 636, 638 3 458 SE2d 671 1995.

So viewed, the evidence shows that Officer Heller stopped Smith after noticing that her dealer “drive-out tag” had expired. When the officer asked Smith for her driver’s license and explained the reason he stopped her, she admitted that “she had not gotten the vehicle registered yet because she was not able to afford to do so.” After obtaining her license and a bill of sale for the car, Officer Heller returned to his patrol car and determined through his computer system that the insurance status of the car “was unknown.” He returned to Smith, and she verified that she had not yet obtained insurance for the car. When Officer Heller informed Smith that she should contact someone for a ride because he planned to impound her car for lack of registration and insurance, she became visibly upset. He then returned to his car to complete the impound form and citations for Smith.

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