DUI Cases

After 15 years of practice, I get a lot of questions about DUI cases and there are some good DUI lawyers in Atlanta. We have been referring clients to a good local lawyer, Beau Worthington, and I sat down with him to go through some of the key questions.

The way I see it, people that get pulled over for DUI come in three categories:

  1. Wasted
  2. Fun Party, Headed Home
  3. Just two Beers Officer

I posed these situations to Beau and asked what a driver should do in each situation if pulled over, and this is what he said. Keep in mind I condemn drunk driving thoroughly; I also condemn the State of Georgia putting Georgia State Patrol officers all up and down Roswell Road just because it is a state road. The comedy value of Atlanta PD and GSP competing to see who can get more DUI revenue is sad. The end result is a lot of sober people are pulled over in a race for revenue.

Category I: Wasted, Cooter Brown, Should be Nowhere Near a Car

There are not many options for you. You should not have gotten in the car, period. Now the blue lights are on behind you and its time to pay the piper. There is no way you will pass the field sobriety tests and a blood test will be dispositive. In this situation, politely decline to take the field test or the breathalyzer. You will be placed under arrest for the refusal and taken down to the station where you will be asked to blow into the intoxilyzer 5000. If you refuse this also, they will charge you under the implied consent law which says when you, the driver, consent to testing and refusal to do so strips you of your license.

They will do two things; 1) charge you with DUI/Less Safe and try to prove the case based on the video and what you said, 2) suspend your license for up to a year.