Union City DUI (dismissed), plea to Reckless Driving

Our client was stopped by Union City Police from a call of a disturbance at a gas station (client got into a heated argument with the clerk).  Officer also noticed a headlight out.  Client showed signs of drinking and impairment and was arrested for DUI and No Headlight.  Client also lived out of state and missed his court appearance for his Union City DUI in Fulton County State Court and a bench warrant was issued.  Mr. Sullivan was able to get the bench warrant lifted in Fulton County State Court and negotiate a dismissal of the Union City DUI charge in exchange for a plea to Reckless Driving. 

Atlanta DUI Refusal: Dismissed

Our client clearly did not stop at a red light in Atlanta (on video) and a Georgia State Patrol Trooper made a traffic stop.  Client looked good on the video and had no slurred speech.  Performed reasonably well on field sobriety evaluation.  Client refused a portable breath test and was arrested for an Atlanta DUI.  Mr. Sullivan rejected a reckless driving plea offer in Atlanta Municipal Court  as it may affect travel to Canada and sent the case to Fulton County State Court for a jury trial.  Mr. Sullivan successfully negotiated a plea to running a stop sign (which our client clearly did) and a basic rules violation (does not get reported to the Georgia Department of Driver Services). 

Fulton County DUI .19 Breath Test – Dismissed

Our 25 year old software engineer executive drove his car at night without headlights on.  After a Georgia State Trooper did a typical Atlanta DUI investigation, our client was arrested.  Later at the jail he blew a .19 on the state administered breath test.  The case finally made its way to Fulton County State Court.  The state requested a continuance of the motions hearing due to the Trooper being unavailable.  Four months later the State requested a second continuance.  Because of our investigation we knew that the Trooper had been transferred to a new post hours away.  The judge agreed with our argument that the State had had many months to subpoena the Trooper, and failed to bring him to court. Accordingly, the judge granted all of our motions to suppress evidence, and the case was dismissed.

Georgia State Patrol DUI refusal, CDL driver: case dismissed

A must win for our CDL client who was stopped by Georgia State Patrol for an illegal U-Turn and Failure to Maintain Lane.  Our client smelled of an alcoholic beverage and admitted to drinking at a club.  He agreed to perform field sobriety evaluations which lead to his arrest for DUI in Atlanta.  Our client refused the state blood test and his license was administratively suspended for a year.  We rejected a plea offer to Reckless Driving in Atlanta, and Mr. Sullivan pressed for a speedy trial in Fulton County State Court.  The prosecution dragged its feet in filing our case in Fulton State Court even after Mr. Sullivan asserted his client’s right to a speedy trial multiple times.  Mr. Sullivan filed a motion to dismiss due the speedy trial violation and won the case – all charges dismissed!  Our client was very happy CDL was reinstated and his record remained clean. 

Atlanta/Fulton County DUI (.109 Breath test) and Reckless Driving – Not Guilty

Our decorated military officer, with a thirteen year career on the line, was pulled over after running a stop-sign in the Virginia Highlands in Atlanta.  Our client agreed to field sobriety exercises and scored a 6/6 on the HGN, 4/8 on the walk and turn, and a 2/4 on the one leg stand.  Our client agreed to breath testing and blew a .109 at the Georgia Tech Police Station.  Our military officer had to take his case to trial to save his career.  Chestney & Sullivan Law Firm took the case to trial with no expert to challenge the state’s .109 breath test.  After a hard-fought battle with a veteran Atlanta DUI Task Force officer, the Fulton County jury returned a not guilty verdict on both DUI, and Reckless driving in 15-minutes in Fulton County State Court.

Roswell DUI Refusal: Not Guilty

Client was stopped for Speeding 60 in a 40 mph zone and Failing to Maintain Lane.  Roswell DUI Officer J. Ott with the Roswell Police Department conducted a DUI investigation.  Client admitted to having a few beers and agreed to perform field sobriety evaluations.  Client scored all 6 clues on the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus evaluation, 5 out a possible 8 clues on the Walk and Turn evaluation, and 3 out of 4 possible clues on the One Leg Stand evaluation.  Client looked reasonably well on the Walk and Turn evaluation, but not as good on the One Leg Stand evaluation.   Client’s speech was clear, stopping sequence was fine, walked fine, and was standing fine when communicating with the officer.  Client refused the roadside breathalyzer as well as the State breath test after client was placed under arrest.  We were not able to reach a non-DUI resolution in Roswell Municipal Court through negotiations, so the case was sent to Fulton County State Court for trial.  Mr. Sullivan elected to trust a judge in Fulton County State Court to decide this case over a jury and the judge found our client Not Guilty of the DUI and Not Guilty of the Failure to Maintain Lane, but convicted our client of Speeding (we did not dispute our client was speeding).  The judge gave a nominal fine on the speeding charge that our client was more than happy to pay.

Fulton DUI Dismissed – .15 breath test

Our client was stopped after proceeding the wrong way down a one way street by Georgia State University Police.  Client agreed to do field sobriety evaluation in the rain.   The officer clearly did not follow his training in administering the horizontal gaze nystagmus evaluation.  The officer also read the Georgia Implied Consent notice before placing our client under arrest, contrary to Georgia DUI law.  Client agreed to the State breath test and blew a .154 on the intoxilyzer 5000.  That test would have been inadmissible at trial due to the timing of the implied consent notice.  The prosecution in Fulton County State Court elected not to file formal charges in this case and the charges were dismissed. 

State Court of Fulton County

I am more than satisfied about the outcome, even though it hasn’t fully processed with me yet!  I will definitely be giving you the best review possible.  Thank you so much for your diligence, and thoughtfulness towards my case.  I will recommend you to anyone that I come across, and you will be the one I call if I ever need any legal assistance; even though I do not anticipate ever needing it again.  Thank you so very much! – W.S., Buford, Georgia

Atlanta/Fulton County DUI dismissed

Client made a right on red that was captured on video by an Atlanta DUI Task Force Officer. Field sobriety evaluations were administered and client was arrested for DUI.  The Georgia Implied Consent Notice was read and client refused the State breath test.  Case was sent out of Atlanta Municipal Court to Fulton County State Court where the prosecution decided to dismiss the Atlanta/Fulton County DUI charge and the right on red charge.

Milton DUI Dismissed (Right to Speedy Trial Violated)

Client was charged with an improper turn and DUI in Milton back in June 2013.  Due to the sensitive nature of this charge as it might affect his executive position at a national company, Bob Chestney attempted to resolve the case as quickly as possible – he asked for a bench trial in Milton Municipal Court.  But prior to the trial date, the prosecutor had the case sent down to the State Court of Fulton County over our objection.  This added an entirely unnecessary delay of almost 24 months to the process, during which time our client endured the extreme anxiety of these charges possibly causing him professional embarrassment or worse.  Having earnestly sought a speedy trial and been denied, our client’s constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated, and his Milton DUI case was properly dismissed.