Rumors have it that Cobb County Judge Irma Glover has denied State Rep. David Graves (R-Hypocrite, GA) his plea defense that he is un-prosecutable because his 2nd DUI arrest happened while the General Assembly was in Session.

Here's the part of the Georgia Constitution that Graves' cites in his argument:

Paragraph IX. Privilege of members. The members of both houses shall be free from arrest during sessions of the General Assembly, or committee meetings thereof, and in going thereto or returning therefrom, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.

Graves' DUI defense attorney, William "Bubba" (sic) Head stated that Graves will appeal this ruling to the State Supreme Court.

PV Ponders The Issue: Let's see...can a DUI be classified as "treason?"....no...no...of course, under Senator Nancy Shaefer's and Sadie Fields' umbrella of thought processes, only homosexuality can...let's see...how about a "felony?"...maybe, we don't know criminal statutes..."breach of peace"...yes, most definitely. Running a red light while under the influence of alcohol would fit our definition of "breach of peace."

Now, in case the House is flummoxed with what actions to take, we direct them to an previous section of the Georgia Constitution:

Paragraph VII. Election and returns; disorderly conduct. Each house shall be the judge of the election, returns, and qualifications of its members and shall have power to punish them for disorderly behavior or misconduct by censure, fine, imprisonment, or expulsion; but no member shall be expelled except by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the house to which such member belongs.

Hmmmm...ah, well, we just gotta wait now for some Member of the House to collect enough integrity out of the gumball machine to have the guts to file a complaint against Graves. Oh, yes, and, of course, get written permission by his hall monitor.


Here are the facts: Graves has had at least 2 arrests. The one that is not being challenged under the "immunity" clause is his arrest in March of 2004. He had run a red light in Cobb County and consented to a blood-alcohol test, which registered a 0.13, well above the 0.08 limit, according to records obtained by the AJC.

It is rather clear to us that Mr. Graves has quite the problem with driving under the influence of alcohol. Remember, this is one time he was CAUGHT...we suspect he is an old hand at the act itself...doing it lots of times without getting caught by law-enforcement.

Again, when he ends-up killing an innocent bystander, that will be too late for any Member of this House (actually, save one...the chair of the Ethics Committee, who must remain completely neutral in order to be able to conduct an unbiased hearing, should one occur in his committee) to say "Gosh, maybe now would be a good time to remove David from his Chairmanship"...