The Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a Gainesville man who struck and severely injured a Hall County deputy with his car during an attempted drug arrest.

Attorneys for Chanju Dryden argued that the presiding judge in his case should not have accepted a jury’s guilty verdicts for both aggravated assault on a peace officer and serious injury by vehicle, contending the two counts were "mutually exclusive."

The three-judge panel, in an opinion issued June 5, disagreed with the defense argument and other grounds for appeal, upholding the conviction.

Dryden, 28, is serving an 18-year prison sentence in connection with the January 2006 incident at the Kangaroo parking lot on E.E. Butler Parkway. Hall County Deputy Mark Thomason spent 12 days in a hospital and underwent five surgeries on his leg after it was crushed when he became pinned between two cars.