Gwinnett County criminal defense attorneys took note of a recent case where the Gwinnett County District Attorney reduced charges in a case where texting while driving led to someone's death.

Initially, Gwinnett County Police had charged Lori Reineke, 48, with felony first degree vehicular homicide when she hit and killed a pedestrian, allegedly while texting and driving.

On October 30, 2009, the police alleged that Ms. Reineke was distracted from driving because she was texting. She hit and killed James Eaton III, 48, on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. The accident took place in the dark and in the rain, at about 8:15 pm.

Now, though, Reineke will be charged with...

2nd degree vehicular homicide, which is a misdemeanor.

District Attorney Porter said that Reineke was not speeding. He also pointed out that Eaton entered the crosswalk against a "Don't Walk" sign.

Porter said, "We decided that based on the fact that there was only one traffic violation, which is driving while distracted, that that doesn't rise to the level under the circumstances of being reckless driving. I wanted to try and move forward with the prosecution particularly in light of the new texting law. But we came to the conclusion that even if the texting law had been in effect at the time of the accident, it still would not have made a difference in terms of being the underlying offense for felony vehicular homicide."

The new ban on texting while driving will be enforceable, Porter believes. "But I don't think that in and of itself, will form a basis for felony vehicular homicide. Even if you could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt that they were sending or reading a text at the time they struck and killed someone, it still would be second degree vehicular homicide."