A Lawnmower is Not a Car

Public defender Michael McCarthy told the justices that a riding mower is many things, a modern mechanical marvel among them, but McCarthy said it's not a motor vehicle under state law. Prosecutors attempted to prove that state law does show that a lawn mower is a motor vehicle because it is self-propelled.

A car can be just as expensive as a lawnmower, but if its stolen, the Georgia Supreme Court has officially ruled in a 4-3 split decision that a lawn mower is not a car.

Franklin Lloyd Harris was convicted of felony motor vehicle theft. Harris loaded a Toro riding mower in 2006 from a Home Depot in Dalton into his van and sped away. Because he was a repeat offender, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The state's top court ruled that the purpose of a riding mower is to cut grass, not transport people. ''To be sure, a riding lawn mower is capable of transporting people or property and of driving on the street for short stretches,'' Justice David Nahmias wrote in the opinion. ''But that is not what the machine is designed for or how it is normally used.''

In a dissent, Justice Harold Melton argued that Georgia lawmakers specifically defined ''motor vehicle'' broadly enough to include riding mowers. It warned that the ruling ''has interpreted the statute in a manner that creates conflict and leads to an absurd result.''

The case, which lawyers said set a precedent in Georgia, comes as other courts around the country grapple with similar concerns about whether riding lawnmowers and similar devices should be classified as vehicles. There was no discussion in the ruling over how the state defines motor vehicles for the purpose of DUI arrests. Such a decision will need to be initiated through another case submission.