Tagged: Cherokee County DUI

Cherokee DUI Breath Test Refusal, Blood Search Warrant: Not Guilty Verdict

James “Skip” Sullivan defended his client in a Cherokee County DUI case through a jury trial.  Our client was found Not Guilty of all charges by a Cherokee County jury.  A Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputy was parked at the entrance of an elementary school in Cherokee County monitoring traffic at an intersection.  Our client approached the intersection and made a wide right turn – crossing the double yellow line.  She also failed to maintain her lane a few times.  A traffic stop was conducted by the Cherokee County DUI officer and a DUI investigation began.  Our client admitted to drinking alcohol and even admitted to not being safe to drive.  She was also in a state of emotional distress and did not perform well on field sobriety evaluations.  She was arrested and agreed to a breath test, but changed her mind when she got to the jail.  The deputy obtained a search warrant for blood and two emergency medical technicians drew her blood at the jail.  When the blood samples arrived at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Division of Forensic Sciences, there was an insufficient amount of blood to test.  Mr. Sullivan took the case to a jury trial for his client and obtained a not guilty verdict on all charges – including the wide right turn and failure to maintain lane charges (that were on the video). 

Our experienced DUI trial attorneys at Chestney & Sullivan  can discuss your Cherokee DUI today.  Call us at 404.816.8777

Cherokee County DUI, .162 breath test, Failure to Report an Accident Dismissed

Defendant had struck a mailbox, accent light and some bushes in a neighborhood and left the scene.  A deputy with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department investigated the accident and found a piece of a car that through a search of the part number through Google, was able to determine the make and model of the vehicle.  The deputy patrolled the neighborhood where the accident occurred and came upon a residence with a garage door open.  Inside the garage was a vehicle matching the description of the results the deputy found in his Google search.  The deputy walked down the driveway of the residence and found the defendant asleep behind the wheel of the vehicle.  A DUI investigation was conducted, defendant was arrested and the defendant blew .162 and .168 on the State’s breath test.  The issue was whether the deputy could enter the open garage to investigate the accident without a warrant.  the Cherokee trial judge agreed with Mr. Sullivan in granting his motion to suppress all evidence when the deputy entered the garage as there were no “exigent circumstances” justifying the garage without a warrant.  The prosecution elected to dismiss the case as the judge’s ruling left the prosecution with no admissible evidence to prosecute the case.