Client was stopped for Failure to Maintain Lane in East Ellijay, Georgia. Client agreed to perform field sobriety evaluations and scored 6 out of 6 clues on the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus evaluation, 3 out of 8 clues on the Walk and Turn evaluation and 1 out of 4 on the One Leg Stand evaluation. Client was arrested by the East Ellijay DUI officer and refused the state breath test. Mr. Sullivan was able to negotiate a reduced charge and client never had to appear in court.
Tagged: reckless driving
DeKalb County DUI Refusal – reduced
Client was found asleep in the car in the middle of the road with the engine running. A DeKalb DUI Officer observed vomit on client’s clothes and that client had slurred and slow speech. Client admitted to drinking and was unsteady upon exiting the car. Client refused to do field sobriety evaluations and refused to submit to the state’s breath test and was arrested for a DeKalb County DUI refusal. At a motions hearing the charges were reduced after Mr. Sullivan successfully negotiated a Reckless Driving plea with the prosecutor and the judge.
Brookhaven DUI reduced: .099, Independent test .107
Client was stopped for speeding. Trooper smelled odor of alcohol coming from client. Client performed field sobriety evaluations and looked good. Trooper arrested client anyway and client agreed to take the state breath test (0.099). The legal limit is 0.08. Client elected to have an independent test and the results were higher: .107. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the prosecutor that some of the conversion formulas used to equate a hospital test to a GBI test brought the independent test below .08. The prosecutor decided to reduce the Brookhaven DUI charge to Reckless Driving and a negotiated plea was entered in Brookhaven Municipal Court.
Troup County DUI Reduced, Drug Charge Dismissed.
Out-of-State client was stopped for speeding on I-85 at about 8:00 am on his way to the Atlanta Airport from a wedding in Montgomery. His breath still smelled of alcohol from the parties the night before, so the State Trooper felt the need to investigate further. After performing typical roadside gymnastics, he was subsequently arrested for DUI. Since he understood only his GA driving privileges would be suspended for refusing a state-administered test, that is the option he chose. Upon discovering a prescription pill among his belongings, he was also charged with a drug offense
Motions were filed challenging the search and seeking exclusion of evidence, and at the scheduled hearing, Bob Chestney persuaded the prosecutor in Troup County to accept a Nolo plea to Reckless Driving, with all other charges being dismissed.
Rockdale County DUI Refusal – reduced
Client was stopped on I-20 due to a concerned citizen call about client’s driving. Client initially refused to perform field sobriety but after being arrested for his Rockdale County DUI and read Miranda warning, client repeatedly agreed to take the field sobriety evaluations. The Rockdale County deputy would not let our client do field sobriety evaluations. After being read the Georgia Implied Consent Notice, client agreed to take the state test of his breath, but when arriving at the jail, client wanted to speak to a lawyer before taking the test. The deputy took that as a refusal – even though client was previously read Miranda warning. The prosecution also tried to have admitted into client’s trial a prior DUI arrest where the client was found NOT GUILTY by a jury. The trial judge would not allow the prosecution to use the prior not guilty verdict. The prosecution reevaluated its case and the Rockdale County DUI charge was dismissed in exchange for a plea to reckless driving.