Gueorgui Makharadze

Gueorgui Makharadze (born 1961) was the deputy ambassador of the Republic of Georgia to the United States. On January 3, 1997, while driving in Washington, D.C. around midnight, Makharadze caused an accident that injured four people and killed sixteen-year-old Jovianne Waltrick. He was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.15, but released from custody because he was a diplomat. The U.S. government asked the Georgian government to waive his immunity, which they did and Makharadze was tried and convicted of manslaughter by the U.S. and sentenced to seven to twenty-one years in prison. The first three years of his sentence were served in a North Carolina prison, after which he was repatriated to his home nation of Georgia to serve the remainder of his sentence.

References

• CNN.com U.S. News Archive, Georgian diplomat ordered to remain in United States," January 10, 1997, Web posted at: 9:00 p.m. EST, taken on October 11, 2006.
• CNN.com U.S. News Archive, "Georgian president to waive envoy's immunity," January 12, 1997, Web posted at: 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT), taken on October 11, 2006.
• New York Times Archives, "Victim's Family Sues Georgian Diplomat" Published January 1, 1998, taken October 11, 2006.
• New York Times Archives, "National News Briefs; Envoy Claims Immunity In Wrongful-Death Suit," Published April 26, 1998, taken on October 11, 2006.