Our client rear-ended a car while exiting the expressway in Dunwoody, GA. He decided not to stop at the scene, but eventually stopped in Chamblee, Ga. A Chamblee officer responded to the scene, but called in Dunwoody police to come to the scene as the Hit and Run charge occurred in Dunwoody. A DUI investigation was conducted and our client was arrested for DUI by Dunwoody police. He agreed to take the state-administered breath test and blew a .154 – almost twice the legal limit in Georgia. Mr. Sullivan moved the case from Dunwoody Municipal Court to DeKalb County State Court to challenge the DeKalb DUI arrest and the admissibility of the breath test on constitutional and police jurisdiction grounds. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the DeKalb State Court prosecutor that the state breath test would not be admissible at trial, and without that, the rest of the prosecution’s DUI case was weak. The DeKalb DUI charges were dismissed, and Mr. Sullivan negotiated a plea to the Hit and Run charge (which our client admitted to doing) and minor traffic offenses.
Tagged: Dunwoody DUI
Dunwoody DUI Reduced Despite 2 Prior Convictions
Client was stopped for rather sloppy driving near Perimeter Mall by Dunwoody Police, and arrested for DUI. Her previous attorney had the case bound over to DeKalb State Court, and filed some boilerplate motions, which were all denied. The Court held that both prior DUI convictions could be used by the State at trial. Client retained Bob Chestney at the last minute, with the case set for trial. We were able to convince the judge to allow us to file an out-of-time motion to suppress the prescription drugs found during a search of her purse, and which she was alleged to be impaired from. Prior to a hearing on this motion, the prosecutor who had a long history with Mr. Chestney offered to drop the Dunwoody DUI charge with a plea of Nolo Contendere to Reckless Driving.
DeKalb DUI (.172) – DUI Dismissed
Client was stopped by the Dunwoody Police Department for driving 83 in a 55 mile per hour zone. The report had many of the usual manifestations of impairment: bloodshot and glazed eyes, strong smell of alcohol, admission of drinking, evasive answers when questioned by the officer, and a poor performance on the field sobriety evaluations. Client was arrested and taken to jail, where he submitted to a breath test on the Intoxilyzer 5000. He blew a .172, but asked the officer if he could get a second test of his blood. The officer told him that he would need to bond out before he could get a test of his blood. The Court of Appeals had excluded a breath test on this very same issue in State v. Terry, 236 Ga.App. 248 (1999). The State agreed to dismiss the Dunwoody DUI. Client entered a plea to Reckless Driving. His driver’s license was saved, he never returned to jail, and he avoided a DUI conviction!
DeKalb – DUI (Refusal) – Dismissed
Client was traveling late at night on Interstate 285 in a rental car without her headlights illuminated. She had not driven this rental car in the evening before and was unaware that her headlights were off. A well-trained Dunwoody police officer pulled her over and client stopped right in the middle of the highway! After a brief conversation, and after the client declined to submit to any field sobriety evaluations, he arrested her for DUI. The police officer described client as argumentative, confused, and untruthful in his report. He also noted that he smelled alcohol on her breath. Upon a search of her rental car, he found a variety of prescription medications. Client declined to submit to a breath test at the jail. In court, we convinced the Prosecutor that there was no probable cause to arrest the client for DUI before the motion hearing even began, despite the fact that the client had been arrested for DUI before this arrest, and again after this arrest. We were able to persuade the Prosecutor to let the client enter a Guilty plea to Driving without Headlights and pay a $100 fine. Case closed and client walked free!