Our client was stopped by a City of Carrollton police officer and cited for driving while license suspended. The license was suspended prior to the stop due to our client paying a speeding ticket on line and not realizing that it caused a $200 assessment by Georgia Department of Driver Services for super speeder. The assessment went to an old address and caused the license to be suspended for failing to pay the $200 DDS assessment on time. Mr. Sullivan was able to assist his client in clearing up what was causing the license suspension, which in turn helped Mr. Sullivan negotiate a full dismissal of the driving while license suspended charge in Carrollton Municipal Court.
Tagged: James “Skip” Sullivan
Covington DUI Refusal: Reduced to Reckless Driving
A concerned citizen was following our client and called in to Georgia State Patrol that our client was failing to keep the vehicle in a single lane. A Georgia State Trooper spotted our client’s vehicle and also noticed it failing to maintain the vehicle within the lane. The trooper initiated a traffic stop in Covington, Georgia and after a brief conversation, allowed our client to drive off. The Trooper then saw our client drive off onto the shoulder of the road and stopped the vehicle again. A DUI investigation began, where our client performed field sobriety evaluations and tested high on a portable alcosensor (almost twice the legal limit). Our client was subsequently arrested for a DUI in Covington. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the prosecutor that the client performed well enough on field sobriety evaluations that a jury might not convict on the DUI charge. The prosecutor agreed and a plea to reckless driving was negotiated.
Cobb County DUI Breath Test .173: Reduced to Reckless Driving
Our client was charges with a Cobb County DUI after being stopped for failing to maintain his lane. Marietta Police conducted an investigation for DUI where our client agreed to submit to field sobriety evaluations. Our client was subsequently arrested for DUI and took the state breath rest with a result of .173. The case began in Marietta Municipal Court, but the Marietta DUI charge was sent over to Cobb County State Court to preserve our client’s right to a jury trial. Mr. Sullivan conducted a motions hearing to exclude the .173 breath test from being admissible at trial. While the judge was deciding the motions, Mr. Sullivan was able to persuade the prosecutor that the test would be inadmissible at trial. Subsequently, Mr. Sullivan negotiated with the prosecutor to dismiss the Cobb DUI charge and our client enter a plea to reckless driving.
Johns Creek Underage (Under 21) Alcohol Possession: Dismissed
Our seventeen year old client was involved in soliciting a person to buy alcohol for him and a friend in Johns Creek. At the same time of the purchase, Johns Creek Police Department was conducting a sting operation to catch people who buy alcohol for kids who are under 21. Once the sale of alcohol was complete and our client and friend received the alcohol, Johns Creek moved in and detained our client and friend. Our client was then charged with underage alcohol possession in Johns Creek. Mr. Sullivan was able to get his client into a pretrial diversion program, which our client completed successfully. This resulted in the charge being dismissed by the court. This also saved our young client from having a criminal history, let alone a conviction for underage alcohol possession.
Woodstock DUI: Reduced to Reckless Driving
Our Woodstock DUI client was observed by Woodstock Police throwing up besides her car in a parking lot. Our client then drove off not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign exiting the parking lot. The Woodstock police officer initiated a traffic stop and client pulled back into the same parking lot. A DUI investigation was conducted after the officer smelled a strong odor of alcohol coming from our client, observed bloodshot, watery eyes, and observed our client vomiting. Our client performed field sobriety evaluations and scored the maximum clues on the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus evaluation, 5 out of 8 possible clues on the Walk and Turn evaluation, and 1 out 4 clues on the One Leg Stand evaluation. She was then arrested and charged with DUI and running a stop sign. Mr. Sullivan was able to successfully negotiate with the Woodstock solicitor (prosecutor) to drop the DUI charge in exchange for a plea to Reckless Driving.
Braselton Traffic Tickets: Driving While License Suspended, Speeding Dismissed
Our out of state client was stopped for speeding in Braselton going 90 mph in a 70 mph zone. A license check determined that our client’s out of state license was suspended. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the prosecutor to dismiss the Braselton Driving While License Suspended charge and the Speeding charge (which would have resulted in a super speeder assessment by Georgia DDS if convicted). A plea to Basic Rules and a city ordinance was negotiated, where the charges would not be reported to Georgia Department of Driver Services and would also not be reported on client’s criminal history.
Spalding County DUI, .40 Blood Test: Reduced
In her Spalding County DUI case, our client lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a collision repair shop parking lot in Spalding County. A witness saw the accident and called police. Georgia State Patrol responded and conducted an investigation. Due to the accident, no field sobriety evaluations were performed, but the trooper noticed a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from our client. Our client was transported to the hospital for treatment. Our client was charged for DUI in Spalding County and blood was draw for testing at the GBI. The blood test result was .40, five times the legal limit. Mr. Sullivan was able to persuade the prosecution that due to the delay of the case and admissibility issues of the state’s blood test to dismiss the DUI charge, resulting in a negotiated plea to Too Fast for Conditions and Reckless Driving.
DeKalb County DUI, .154 breath test; Hit and Run: DUI charges dismissed
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.
Atlanta DUI, Speeding; Georgia State Patrol: DUI dismissed
Our out of state client was stopped for speeding in downtown Atlanta by a Georgia State Patrol Trooper. Client agreed to perform field sobriety evaluations. The trooper was a big officer, who stood uncomfortably close to our client during the evaluations on the side of a busy highway. He was arrested for DUI and when the Georgia Implied Consent Notice was read to our client to submit to the state breath test, our client asked if the results may prevent him from being arrested (no matter what the results were). The trooper said he was under arrest no matter what happens. Our client refused to take the breath test. Mr. Sullivan conducted an administrative license suspension hearing and was able to successfully cross-examine the trooper. The audio recording of the hearing was presented to the prosecutor, who subsequently dismissed the Atlanta DUI in exchange for a plea to Reckless Driving in Atlanta Municipal Court.
Atlanta DUI Refusal, Improper U turn: Reduced to Reckless Driving
Mr. Sullivan was able to save our client’s license from being administratively suspended for a year for refusing the state’s breath test after being arrested for an Atlanta DUI by a Georgia State Patrol Nighthawks DUI task force trooper. Our client made an illegal u turn in view of the trooper and was stopped in a gas station parking lot. Our client’s passenger was having a medical emergency. Our client had noticeable slurred speech, but performed reasonably well on field sobriety evaluations. He was arrested for DUI and refused the state breath test at the jail. Mr. Sullivan was able to negotiate a dismissal of the DUI charge in exchange for a plea to Reckless Driving, avoiding an Atlanta DUI conviction, but also avoiding a one year suspension of our client’s driver’s license.