What’s the defense strategy for tampering with vehicle identification numbers in Georgia?
A charge involving a vehicle identification number in Georgia generally concerns altering, removing, defacing, or falsifying the unique number that identifies a vehicle. The defense usually concentrates on two things: what the person actually did to the number, and what they knew and intended when they did it.
Knowledge and intent sit at the center. These offenses generally require that a person acted knowingly and with a culpable purpose, so someone unaware that a number had been altered, or lacking the required intent, stands on different ground. The mental state behind the conduct is examined.
The act itself is examined. Whether a person genuinely altered or falsified an identifying number, as opposed to merely possessing a vehicle whose number had already been changed by someone else, can be decisive. What the person actually did to the number is examined.
Possession alone may prove little. Where a charge stems from a vehicle bearing an altered number, the mere fact of possession does not by itself establish that the person knew of the alteration. Whether knowledge of the changed number is shown is examined.
A defense to a vehicle identification number charge generally weighs whether the required knowledge and intent were present and what the person actually did. Since possession of a vehicle whose number was already altered does not by itself show that the person knew of the change, the question of knowledge frequently becomes decisive. The mental state, the conduct directed at the number, and the question of knowledge regarding any alteration are what drive how such a matter is handled.