Our client was involved in a single car accident in the city limits of Atlanta within the borders of DeKalb County. He snapped a telephone pole and the vehicle then went through a fence, ended up resting next to a retaining wall of a house. Fire, EMS, and Atlanta Police showed up on the scene. The Atlanta police conducted a DUI investigation while EMT’s were working on our client. Our client was transported to the hospital where he was placed under arrest and read the Georgia Implied Consent notice. He agreed to take a blood test which showed a combination of alcohol, Ambien, and marijuana in his system. The DUI case started in Atlanta Municipal Court. Mr. Sullivan was not able to negotiate a non-DUI plea in Atlanta, so he requested a jury trial in DeKalb County State Court. Mr. Sullivan filed various motions attacking the DeKalb State Court prosecutor’s DUI case. At the hearing, Mr. Sullivan successfully cross-examined the Atlanta DUI officers to the point that after the hearing, he was then able to convince the prosecutor that a jury wasn’t going to like his officers and we stood a good chance of getting a not guilty verdict at trial (even with the blood test result). The Atlanta DUI charge was dismissed in exchange for a negotiated plea to Reckless Driving.
Tagged: Accident
DeKalb DUI .291 Blood Test (dismissed)
Mr. Sullivan represented a client that was involved in a significant single car accident in Decatur Georgia. Our client went off the road and struck a utility pole. A Decatur DUI officer arrived on scene and conducted a DUI investigation. Our client had a significant cut to the lip and was transported to the hospital for treatment. While at the hospital, the Decatur DUI officer read the Georgia Implied Consent Notice to our client, who agreed to a blood test. The blood test result was .291. The legal limit in Georgia is .08. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the DeKalb State Court prosecutor that the blood test was inadmissible because client was not under arrest at the time the notice was read. The prosecutor agreed to dismiss the DUI charges in exchange for a plea to a lesser traffic charge of Reckless Driving.
Atlanta DUI Accident, Refusal: DUI dismissed
Our client traveled the wrong way down a one-way street in Atlanta and pulled into a gas station where he struck and damaged a gas pump. An Atlanta officer, who is not a member of the Atlanta DUI Task Force, conducted a poor DUI investigation, but there were still signs of intoxication. There was no video of this incident from the police. Although the driving was bad and an accident was involved, Mr. Sullivan was able to persuade the prosecutor to dismiss the Atlanta DUI charge in exchange for a plea to Reckless Driving and a minor traffic offense.
Atlanta accident ticket; CDL driver: dismissed in Fulton State Court
Our client, who has a commercial driver’s license, was involved in a traffic accident when he failed to maintain his lane. He was issued a traffic ticket and represented himself in Atlanta Municipal Court. He sent his case over to Fulton County State Court for trial. He moved and did not get notice of his arraignment date in Fulton State Court and a bench warrant and bond forfeiture was issued. His license was suspended for failure to appear at his court date. He subsequently hired our firm. We quickly got his case out of bench warrant/bond forfeiture status and placed his case on the very next bench trial calendar in Fulton State Court. Mr. Sullivan was able to successfully negotiate a full dismissal of the traffic ticket and client was able to get his commercial driver’s license reinstated.
Fulton County DUI Drugs Dismissed
Our 23-year old client was involved in a parking lot scuffle and collision, showed significant signs of drug impairment, and was arrested and charged in Atlanta with DUI-Drugs and Reckless Driving. Case bound over to State Court of Fulton County, where the Court sustained our demurrer to both counts, finding them lacking sufficient detail to allow us to fairly defend them. Bob Chestney handled the hearing, and subsequently negotiated a plea to Reckless Driving. Since he had completed drug treatment, done community service and was able to pay his fine, our client even avoided probation.
DeKalb County Accident – DUI Dropped
Client ran off the road, swerved back onto the road and collided with a wrecker. His sister suffered a pretty bad injury, and he was also taken to the hospital. A blood test revealed a BAC of .091. Bob Chestney filed a motion to suppress the blood test results on several legal grounds, and a hearing was conducted. At that hearing, Mr. Chestney was able to demonstrate on cross-examination that the nurse who testified that she drew our client’s blood had no recollection of doing so, had seen no records indicating she was the blood drawer, and didn’t even know if she was working that night. She testified that she drew the blood merely because the prosecutor told her so.
The judge threw out the test results, and the State offered to drop the DeKalb County DUI accident charge in return for a plea to the Reckless Driving charge.