Ernest is a Clinical Professor of Pharmacy and Psychiatry. He was driving in Effingham County when he crashed his car, hit his head, and was knocked out unconscious. When he awoke he drove and was pulled over and then was arrested by the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office for DUI less safe (refusal), Hit and run, Open container, and Drugs not in original container. He refused to do Field Sobriety tests, and he refused to take a breath test. But, he asked the Effingham police to give him a blood test. They did not. What’s more startling is that the police officer wrote in his report that he asked my client to take a blood test, and my client refused. The officer also wrote in his DUI report that my client was in and out of consciousness in the back seat of the police car. The Effingham County police never called for Medical help to have my client checked out. He had received a head injury and couldn’t remember what happened.

DUI Case Result in Effingham County

The Solicitor in Effingham County eventually offered my client a deal. It wasn’t easy to get. I had to show him our hand, and explain our position in the case. And then, after a long time, and much consideration, the Solicitor agreed to dismiss the DUI. In the Effingham County State Court he plead guilty to Driver to use due care – 40-6-241, and Hit and run. The charges of Drugs not in original container and Open container were Nolle prossed (dismissed).

Judgment: Effingham DUI reduced for Pharmacist

The prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were driving under the influence of alcohol to the extent you were a less safe driver. When the State does not have a chemical test, you should challenge your DUI charge if one of the three elements of DUI refusal will be hard to prove.

Insufficient evidence of impairment

The nurse was driving home with her husband. She was on I-16 and stopped at a gas station. In the parking lot a police officer noticed that she was not wearing a seatbelt. One thing led to another and she was charged with DUI Refusal – 40-6-391(a)(1); and No seat belt – 40-8-76.1(e)(3) by the Georgia State Patrol. She refused to take the field sobriety tests. She refused to take a breath test. In the her case there was not enough evidence for probable cause to arrest her for DUI.

In the Recorder’s Court of Chatham County she plead guilty to reckless driving instead of DUI refusal. The charge for No seatbelt was merged into the Reckless driving charge.

Judgment: Nurse’s DUI refusal negotiated to reckless driving

Q was arrested for DUI less safe, and Failure to maintain lane by the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department on Highway 17. The Bryan County Deputy wrote in his report that Q was driving 29 miles an hour in a 45 mile per hour zone, and he drove with his driver’s side tires over the dotted center line of the highway. The police officer claimed that Q weaved heavily within his lane.  So, the officer pulled him over and immediately detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. The officer said Q was slouched down, face flushed, and his eyes bloodshot and glassy, and Q’s speech was mumbled, slow, and slurred. Q admitted he had a couple of beers that night. Q was unsteady on his feet according to the Deputy. He administered two of the three field sobriety tests and then arrested Q for DUI and took him to the Bryan County Detention Center.

Q would have been dismissed from the military if he got a DUI conviction. So there was only one thing left to do. Fight the DUI. We were headed to a jury trial.

The video showed Q pulled over perfectly. The officer first gave the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test (HGN) and then the One Leg Stand test. It is critical that the tests be done perfectly. We hired an Atlanta Field Sobriety Test Instructor and Former DUI Police Officer to testify for the jury and prove that the Police Officer didn’t do the Field Sobriety Tests the way he was trained to do them. This invalidated the results of the tests. First, the HGN test takes a certain minimum amount of time to do the number of passes correctly. If the HGN is done too fast to complete those passes correctly then it was done wrong and the HGN is no good. Here, the Officer did it way too fast. The Officer did the passes incorrectly and invalidated the entire HGN. The next test that should have been done according to the Field Sobriety Manual is the Walk and Turn. The Officer chose not to do this test. The Officer instead had Q do the One Leg Stand test. Q did this test in the grass. The test requires a hard flat and reasonably level surface. The grass is not hard, flat, and reasonably level.

The Solicitor was ready for the trial. I respect him very much. It would have been a pleasure to try a case against him in Bryan County. But if you can avoid a trial and get a good deal, that is the thing to do. The week before the trial, I went to the Bryan County Courthouse to strike a jury. And on the courthouse steps in front of the red bricked courthouse, the Solicitor and I talked a good bit and he finally agreed to let Q plead his DUI arrest down to Driver to use due care. He is a good man, that Solicitor. He is a good man even if he didn’t give Q that wonderful plea offer. But, I like him more now because of that good deal.

Judgement: Military Officer’s DUI Reduced to Driver to Use Due Care

My client, (I will call him John) is a successful entrepreneur who owns a vacation home on the beach on Tybee Island, Georgia.  He was charged with DUI less safe (alcohol), Open container, and Following too closely.  This would have been his fifth DUI in life. This could have been bad. But, it turned out good. You always have a chance. Always.

The preliminary hearing is a critical stage. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to see if there was probable cause that a person committed a crime. This is a low burden of proof. Ninety-nine percent of the time there is probable cause. But, sometimes probable cause is not proved. This was one of those times.

It was 4:30 p.m. in the Tybee Island Municipal Court when our case was called. We hired a court reporter and she was there to make a record of the preliminary hearing. I told the judge to order the witnesses out of the courtroom so that each police officer could not hear the testimony of other officers.

Officer One testified. She was the primary police officer who made the police report. The primary officer is the officer who makes the decision to arrest. Officer One said she smelled alcohhol on John, and his eyes were red and glossy. Officer One said Officer Two talked to John. That’s all. At that moment I knew something was wrong. On cross-examination, I got Officer One to tell the court that she didn’t make the decision to arrest John. She said that Officer Two made the arrest decision.

Officer Two testified. On cross, Officer Two said, “I was not the arresting officer.” He said that Officer One was. Then he said that Officer Three read John his Implied Consent rights. That was it. The district attorney said “Let’s talk.” We agreed that John may plead guilty to reckless driving and the DUI charge will be dismissed. Here is the the result:

1. DUI less safe (alcohol): Dismissed, Negotiated guilty plea to reckless driving
2. Open container: Dismissed
3. Following too closely: Dismissed

Anytime you are in the courtroom, you have a chance.  Even at the preliminary hearing.  Case closed.

Judgment: DUI dismissed at Tybee Preliminary Hearing

Wyatt is a top-level Gulfstream Engineer and he needed to beat this DUI to keep his job. He was charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) – 40-6-391, and Speeding.  We were ready for the jury trial. The field sobriety test expert witness came to Savannah, Georgia the night before. This case had been rescheduled several times, and Wyatt wanted this case to end. When I walked into the courtroom that day, the police officer was not there. The Assistant District Attorney asked the judge for a continuance. The judge looked at me and asked if I had any response.

I objected to a continuance, because Georgia law says that a continuance shall not be granted to the State, except upon a reasonable showing therefore. The State must first show that they filed a formal and proper motion. The Chatham County Assistant District Attorney in this case didn’t file anything. My client hired an expert witness to show the jury why the field sobriety tests in this case were bad. Our expert is from Atlanta, Georgia and he came to Savannah last night for this trial. If this case is continued Wyatt will have to hire and pay the expert witness all over again. That would be a total waste of money. We are ready for trial. We object to continuance. We ask you to dismiss this case for lack of prosecution.

The Chief State Court Judge dismissed the DUI charge and the Speeding charge. We won.  It was 10:00 a.m. and this case was over.  Wyatt and I walked out of the State Court of Chatham County and went and ate a nice breakfast.

Judgment – State Court DUI Dismissed for Engineer

“I’m so nervous,” he said. “They have a verdict in one hour…Is that good?” “I don’t know,” I said, “I’ve seen it go both ways.” The Clerk of the Chatham County State Court read the verdict: “For the charge of DUI less safe, we the jury find the defendant, Mr. B not guilty.” He grabbed my arm. I looked him in the eye. They looked red and watery. I was glad for him.

Mr. B is from Jamaica. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and child. He works for Delta. The night that this happened he was working in Chatham County. He had worked from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. He went out, had two beers, and headed back to the Condo on Tybee Island. He got pulled over on Butler Avenue for Speeding by a Tybee Island police officer.

The police officer asked him, “Do you know why I stopped you?” Mr. B said, “Because I was going too fast.” The police officer asked him if he wanted an accuracy check on the radar, and Mr. B said “No.” The Tybee officer smelled alcohol and saw that his eyes looked sleepy and told him to get out of the car. The cop asked how much he had drunk. Mr. B told him two beers. He asked him to do some field sobriety tests and within nine minutes he handcuffed Mr. B and arrested him for DUI less safe alcohol 40-6-391(a)(1) and Speeding 40-6-181.

I needed to prove that the police officer gave the field sobriety tests wrong, and invalidated them. The thing was that this police officer was straight and true. He is a good man, and I rather liked him. So there I was; I had him on cross-examination and I knew he gave the field sobriety tests wrong. Half-way through, I decided to stop challenging him face to face. I called in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration DUI Detection & Standardized Field Sobriety Tests Instructor. He testified that the Tybee police officer did not do the field sobriety tests correctly which made them invalid and unreliable.

There was no video, so I called an investigator to the stand and he showed the jury photographs of where all of this happened on Tybee Island.

We started at nine in the morning and finished around eight in the evening. It took the jury one hour to decide to let Mr. B go home not guilty to DUI less safe, and guilty of Speeding. I am grateful because the Judge of Chatham County State Court gave us a fair trial, and that to me is a square shake.

Judgment: Not Guilty to DUI in One Hour

 

In the State Court of Chatham County Georgia, the jury gave the verdict: Not guilty to DUI, less safe (alcohol) 40-6-391(a)(1). The charge for no headlights was dismissed.

Calvin was asleep when the phone rang. Kat and Mike needed a ride home. He had been with them earlier. He had gone downtown in Savannah around seven that evening. He had three beers and went home at ten because he was tired and had to work the next day. Now it was three in the morning and Calvin got up. He drove back downtown to Savannah. He picked them up and headed back to Pooler when he got pulled over by the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police for no headlights.

The cop saw that Calvin wore a wristband from a bar in Savannah. He ordered him out of the Infiniti. On I-16 he had Calvin do some DUI field sobriety tests. He found Calvin’s attempts to be wrong. He arrested him for DUI, less safe (alcohol) 40-6-391(a)(1); and no headlights. He locked him in handcuffs. He put him in the back of his car. Then he asked Calvin to take a breath test at the the Chatham County Georgia jail. Calvin said “No,” because he had done everything else the cop asked and look where that got him.

We hired a DUI field sobriety expert instructor.  He testified that the police officer did the One Leg Stand wrong as well as the Walk and Turn, and invalidated both of them.  We also hired an investigator to take pictures of the location in Chatham County Georgia. He testified that the shoulder of I-16 was not flat and level and was in bad condition.

In the end the jury gave the verdict: Not guilty to DUI, less safe (alcohol) 40-6-391(a)(1) in Chatham County Georgia. The violation of the headlights requirement charge was dismissed.

Judgment: DUI Not Guilty in Chatham County