Top Rated DUI Legal Defense

If a person is convicted of a DUI for the first time in a five-year period - regardless of the substance - they have the possibility of getting a limited driving permit. This limited driving permit allows for driving under limited conditions, to include:

• Work, giving you the opportunity to maintain your livelihood
• School, allowing you to continue your education more effectively
• Medical appointments, such as checkups, prescription pickups, and therapy

If you've been charged with a DUI and want to pursue a limited driving permit, it's important you speak with a DUI defense lawyer immediately. There are certain time deadlines that if missed could prevent you from getting a limited driving permit and could result in you having a complete license suspension for a minimum of 12 months. Police officers often times initiate an administrative license suspension process if a person either refuses to submit to a state administered chemical test or submits to a state test and is over the per se limit for alcohol. Individuals have to decide how to address this administrative license suspension within 30 days of their arrest by either filing an appeal of this license suspension or getting an interlock permit, or they risk a complete suspension of their drivers license

The rules for a limited driving permit change for a second or subsequent conviction in a five-year period.

Blood Tests Can Be Challenged

Blood tests are used to test for alcohol, illegal drugs, and ingestion of prescription medications. Even if your blood test comes back over the legal limit for alcohol or shows the presence of illegal drugs or prescription medications, these blood tests are not automatically admissible against you in a trial. There are challenges that can be made relating to the request for you to submit to a blood test, the actual submission to a blood test, and whether subsequent tests were requested.

Why Does the State Use Blood Tests?

When discussing DUIs or any criminal law, it is important to keep in mind that, according to the Constitution, the state has to prove you are guilty of the crime you've been accused of. A common way for the prosecution to try and prove a DUI charge is by using a blood test. The government will try to use these tests to show that your blood alcohol content was greater than the legal limit of .08% or that your blood showed the presence of an illegal drug or the presence of a legally prescribed drug at a higher than therapeutic level.

Why Does the State Use Breathalyzer Tests?

There are a number of different ways that police officers can test to see if someone is operating a vehicle while intoxicated. However, one of the most popular ways for officers to check is with a breathalyzer test.
A breathalyzer works by analyzing a person's breath to estimate their blood alcohol content or BAC. The legal limit for intoxicated driving in Georgia for a person over 21 is a BAC of .08%.

Alcosensor devices are a field device used by officers that are small, portable, and can be used in the field. However under Georgia law they are only admissible to show either the presence or absence of alcohol, but not for some specific numerical value.
The Intoxilyzer 9000 (or state breath test) that is administered usually at the police department or jail is done after an arrest, and the results can be admissible against an individual if the state can meet the burden for admission. The Intoxilyzer 9000 gives a printed alcohol concentration that the state then uses to charge an individual with what is referred to as a per se DUI. An individual has the right to refuse either one of these types of breath tests. The results of the Intoxilyzer 9000 test can be challenged. 

Why Does the State Use Roadblocks?

The police in and around Athens, Georgia are notorious for using roadblocks. This strategy is especially popular on UGA football game days and major holidays like New Year's Eve, the 4th of July, Memorial Day, and others. While there is plenty of debate regarding the benefits and disadvantages of roadblocks, city and county governments don't show any signs of stopping them anytime soon.

Are Roadblocks Legal?

Yes, however one of the reasons why there is a lot of legal challenges surrounding roadblocks is that they have to be done in very particular way in order to be legal. Constitutional rights and protections apply on game days and holidays, just like any other day.

If you were charged with a DUI after being stopped at a roadblock, you may have a better defense than you think, as the roadblock might be determined to be illegal.

What's the Best DUI Roadblock Defense?

It always pays to have an experienced defense lawyer for any DUI charge When it comes to fighting a DUI from a roadblock, we have the experience you're looking for. We were instrumental in proving that the way that police in the Athens-Clarke County area several years back were conducting roadblocks was unconstitutional. That legal argument resulted in a change to the way the that that department set up and conducted their roadblocks. 

Typically, a police officer can smell the odor of alcohol when they approach an individual, so the answer to the question is unlikely to determine whether the officer either follows up with more questioning or with a request to submit to field sobriety evaluations. An individual is not required to answer any questions about drinking including how much, when, or how recently the drinking stopped when questioned by a police officer. 

No, roadside field sobriety tests (also called SFSTs or FSEs) are voluntary. This means that an officer cannot require a person to perform these evaluations or tests. Additionally the law states that if an individual does not submit to a standardized field sobriety evaluation, that refusal to submit is not admissible in evidence against them at a trial.

Similar to roadside testing, an officer cannot require a person to submit to a portable, roadside alcosensor breath testing device. Similarly to FSEs, a refusal by an individual to submit to a portable roadside alcosensor device is not admissible against an individual at a trial of their case.  

Less safe means that a person is impaired by alcohol, drugs or prescription medications to the extent that they are less safe to drive than if they were not impaired. It can also be restated as incapable of driving safely. This is a very vague term and leaves a lot of area for interpretation as to whether a person is less safe or DUI. The amount of alcohol, drugs or legally taken prescription medications that makes an individual less safe may be different for that of another individual. Officers and prosecutors try to use everything they can to say somebody is less safe to include their driving and performance on field sobriety evaluations. They try to point to as much evidence as they can to say that somebody is impaired or less safe. Our criminal defense lawyer can advocate on your behalf to show why those clues may not be as persuasive as the state would want a judge or jury to believe. 

Yes, a police officer can charge somebody with a DUI even if they do not see them driving. The prosecutor needs to be able to prove that a person was in physical control of a motor vehicle while they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which does not require the officer to see the person actually drive the car. An accident is an example of a case where a police officer could arrive after the driving was over and still be able to charge a person with a DUI. 

If you get arrested for DUI the first thing to do is to contact lawyers to find an experienced DUI lawyer that you feel is competent and that you are confident can handle the intricacies that come with providing your DUI defense. Time is sometimes of the essence because if the officer served the person with a DDS-1205 or administrative license suspension form, that individual has only 30 days to decide what path they will take as to that specific license issue. Our DUI lawyer can help you get through the legal process as quickly as possible. 

If you are convicted for a first-time DUI offense, your license or privilege to drive in Georgia (if you are an out-of-state license holder) will be suspended for a certain period of time. That period depends on a person's age and whether there was an administrative license suspension. They may be eligible for a limited driving permit, but that will depend on the circumstances of their case, including whether they have a license suspension as a result of an administrative license suspension proceeding.

A conviction for a DUI requires a minimum period of license suspension. During that period of suspension, people are oftentimes able to obtain a limited driving permit that allows them to drive to work, school, medical appointments, and other specified activities. The only way to completely avoid a suspended license is to avoid the DUI conviction, with either a reduction or dismissal of the DUI charge. 

A first DUI conviction for a person over 0.08 grams of blood alcohol concentration requires a person to serve 24 hours in jail with other statutory minimum sentence requirements. Some courts are willing to waive the remainder of that time, especially in a DUI less safe case. As the number of DUI convictions for a person increases, generally, that comes with an increase in expected jail time. However, the expected jail time for a first or subsequent DUI oftentimes varies significantly depending on the county in which the person is convicted. 

A DUI conviction stays on your record, which is the reason why it is so important to get a lawyer that is experienced in DUI law to have the best opportunity to avoid a DUI conviction. DUI lawyers look for all possible legal and factual defenses to avoid a DUI conviction.