Gwinnett County .156 Reckless Driving after Motions
N/A
OUTCOME: Reckless Driving after Motion Hearing
Client was driving on Satelite Boulevard in Gwinnett County. He ws pulled over following a turn into a closed child care center at 2 am. The officer conducted field sobriety and arrested the defendan...t. He subsequently blew .156 at the station. We had a contested hearing where the officer was questioned on the traffic stop. The trial court granted, then denied, and later granted the motion to suppress. Instead of appealing the decision, the State offered a reckless driving. This case took several hearings, legal memorandums, a ton of research, and essentially a great deal of persistence. It was a great result for my client.
DUI and DWI
Bartow County .254 On Side of I-75
N/A
OUTCOME: Negotiation During Closing Argument of trial: guilty of not having a license on person: DUI and Suspended License Charges Dismissed
Unbelievable case! Client was on probation for a DUI and had a suspended drivers license. His car ran out of gas and a police officer found him drunk and in the back seat. The officer ran the licens...e and found out it was suspended. Defendant admitted driving the car to the scene and refused field sobriety. He did submit to a breath test of .254 at the station. Unable to reach an agreement, we tried the case. The prosecutor could not present valid evidence of a suspended license. Further, after presenting case law as to why the DUI charge should fail. I negotiated with the officer and prosecutor to a no license charge which the judge accepted. Before trial and even during the trial, I walked over to the prosecutor and offered a negotiated settlement. However, I was turned down. It was not until closing argument where the prosecutor and the cop saw things were not going well, that we were able to reach a settlement. The state was unable to prove less safe driving or show signs of impairment. My client has been sober since the arrest date and his life has been changed.Fortunately, he will not have another DUI and suspended license to deal with.
DUI and DWI
.308 Breath Test College Park
N/A
OUTCOME: After a Trial, Case was negotiated to a Reckless Driving
Defendant was passed out in an airport parking lot, blocking a gate. She was not an emplyee, but was in the employee's section. Several witnesses were concerned for her safety and probably could not ...get out of the lot with her there. The police were called and at the ALS hearing, the officer testified: "I had Ms. X step out of the vehicle; turn it off for me. I asked her what she was doing. She stated she had too much to drink. Her pants were unbuttoned, unzipped, partly down. She had nothing on but socks." The officer then tried to do field sobriety tests, but Defendant could not do them and was arrested and taken for a breath test at the station. Defendant blew .310 and .308.
We set the case for a trial and had a bench trial. At trial, the officer's story differed from his testimony at the ALS hearing. He became frustrated as he was reading his inconsistencies to the trial judge. In closing argument, I gave 3 reasons why my client should be found not guilty: the implied consent was not established, the ALS hearing had him reading it at an improper time, and finally they could not prove the test was done within three hours of driving. The judge took the case under advisement and adjourned the parties for 2 months. I sent him two cases on point and when we reconvened, all parties, the officer, the judge, and I discussed the case and reached a negotiated settlement to a reckless driving and a fine. My client agreed to the resolution. It was a fair and good result for all parties involved. This was a really tough case and only had a narrow window in which to win. My client walked out of there with NO DUI conviction and her driver's license.
DUI and DWI
Barrow County .110 DUI
N/A
OUTCOME: Reduced to Reckless Driving following a motion hearing
Defendant was coming back from a UGA football game. She ran into Operation Rolling Thunder. She was pulled over at a roadblock, given field tests, and blew a .110 on the Intoxilyzer machine.
The S...tate Patrol officer who arrested Defendant was not willing to help her at all. He wanted her to be convicted of the DUI and was not willing to reduce the charges. At the motion hearing three officers testified. The State had all of its witnesses in court. After all three witnesses had testified, it was clear that one of the witnesses story was different than the others. He was also impeached with a transcript from an administrative hearing that I had conducted. The Judge was in agreement that a reckless driving was the proper result given the problems discovered in the motion hearing.
DUI and DWI
Gwinnett County 2nd in 5 Hit and Run & DUI Refusal
N/A
OUTCOME: Reckless Driving Following Motion Hearing
A group of people heard a loud crash and witnessed a white SUV drive from the scene. The SUV had run into 2 parked cars causing a severe amount of damage. A block away from the accident, a woman was ...seen staggering into a house. The white suv was parked in front of the staggering woman's house. Several witnesses called the police and told the police that the woman had been staggering and had been known to carry a gun. The police arrived at the house and determined that the owner of the suv was inside and was possibly injured. The woman was not injured, she was highly intoxiocated. The police entered the home without a warrant and eventually arrested my client for DUI. Following a hearing, the state was willing to reduce the charge to a reckless driving. However, the woman was required to be on house arrest for a period of time, complete counseling, and other various penalties. She was able to retain her driver's license. It was a very difficult case that was hard fought on both sides. Both the State and the Defendant walked out of court with a winning compromise. Prior to the hearing, she was facing a loss of license for 12 months and significant jail time.
DUI and DWI
DUI Accident/ Refusal Cherokee County
N/A
OUTCOME: Not Guilty DUI
Defendant was involved in an auto accident. He rear-ended the car in front of him as he made a turn. A witness called 911 and came to court to testify that they saw my client throwing beer out of his... car window. Two other witnesses testified to the manner of the accident. The officer arrived on scene and gave my client a portable alco-sensor. He also failed the walk and turn test according to the officer. The officer had 8 years of law enforcement experience and hundreds of DUI arrests. Defendant was arrested and refused the State breath test. He told the officer that he was on his cell phone and that was the basis for the accident. At trial, Defendant was found not guilty of the DUI, but found guilty of reckless driving and open container.
DUI and DWI
Gwinnett County Wrong Side of the Road Passed Out
N/A
OUTCOME: Not Guilty All Counts
Defendant was found by a passerby on the wrong side of the road, facing the wrong way, passed out in the driver's seat with the car running. The passerby called 911 and stayed till the police came. W...hen the officers arrived, it took awhile and several knocks on the window to rouse the Defendant. The Defendant was incoherent and extremely drunk. However, the Defendant came into my office and was adamant that she did not drive the car. This was a tough case.
Defendant's husband admitted to driving the car and leaving his wife on the roadway following an argument. At trial, he testified to this fact and thus, the state could never prove that Defendant had driven the car. Defendant was found not guilty despite strong evidence that she was in fact the driver. Defendant was out celebrating her birthday and the officer did admit on the stand that being drunk, alone, and parked on the wrong side of the road, in traffic, was an unusual way to spend a birthday.
DUI and DWI
.17 Gwinnett County Passed Out Behind Wheel
N/A
OUTCOME: Not Guilty
At 4 am a gwinnett officer found my client passed out in a running automobile in the Mall of Georgia parking lot. The officer had a difficult time waking up the Defendant and she used some profanity w...ith him. She was wearing her seatblet and the car was running. She failed field tests and was arrested and taken to jail where she blew a .17.
Defendant also told the officer that she was a lot drunker in this case than in her case in Florida where she was just arrested. At trial, the Defendant testified as did her ex boyfriend, that she was dropped off at the vehicle. Defendant was still unable to explain how or why she ended up in the driver's seat with her seatbelt on. Further, the prosecutor did a good job trying to discredit the Defendant and her ex-boyfriend. The state was unable to show that Defendant had operated a moving vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and was found not guilty of all charges.
DUI and DWI
Clayton County Under 21 .175 breath test
N/A
OUTCOME: Not Guilty after trial
Defendant was 20 years old at the time of an auto accident. At 2 am, the police were dispatched to a closed restaurant where Defendant was observed bleeding from his head. Defendant admitted that he ...had been drinking and had been involved in an auto accident near the AMC theater on Mt. Zion Parkway. He was arrested given a breath test and the results were.175
This was a really tough case. We decided to walk into court and plead guilty to possesion of alcohol by a minor under the conditional discharge section. Where, if Defendant can complete probation the charge will be dismissed. It is a special section for people under 21 to keep clean records.
However, we still had to deal with the DUI. I told the Judge that we would try the case to him as a bench trial. The arresting officer was a very flamboyant witness. She testified at great length and in great detail about things that were not mentioned anywhere in her report. My client supposedly: drank Grey Goose, refused field sobriety tests, was attended to by emergency personnel, charged at her, threatened her, and had the bumper to his car hanging off with trees and bushed embedded in the hood.
Politely, I took this witness apart line by line. There was a huge discrepency in her timeline about when and where my client was arrested. Further, I havbe never in any other case done this, but I tendered the police report as evidence during the trial, so that the judge could read it. The report was very detailed, but failed to corroborate the story she told. In addition, there was another police officer who witnessed the case. Yet, she was not called as a witness. The State realized that there would be no way for her to tell the same wild story as her counterpart.
The Judge waited a week and issued a ruling finding Defendant no guilty on two counts of DUI, failure to maintain lane, failure to report an accident.
The judge suppressed the breath test and did not find the witness for the state to be very credible.
The young man is now 21 and had never been in trouble before this, if he keeps his nose clean, he will not have a criminal record after this case. I know that he understands how fortunate he is of the opportunity he received.
DUI and DWI
Bartow County .111 Roadblock
N/A
OUTCOME: Not Guilty following an Appeal to Superior Court
On Memorial Day weekend, my client encountered a roadblock outside of Lak Allatoona. She was given field sobriety evaluations which did not show significant signs of impairment. However, she was stil...l arrested for DUI and blew a .111. We had a trial in the Probate Court. The trial Judge convicted her despite the State's inability to prove that the roadblock where she was stopped, was set up lawfully. It is the State's burden to prove that the roadblock comported with the Fourth Amendment, however, even though I argued this at trial, the judge still convicted. Fortunately, I had the case transcribed (written down) and we appealed the case to the Superior Court. I filed a memorandum explaining to the Superior Court judge why the trial court erred. The Superior Court judge agreed and signed my order reversing the trial court's decision. My client took the order downstairs to the Probate Court and had the DUI removed from her record. This case was a ton of work, but it was well worth it given the fantastic result.
