The Peach State has some of the toughest and most punitive DUI (driving under the influence) laws in America. The most painful and long-lasting of all DUI punishments is the lack of any type of "first offender" plea or other special diversion or deferred adjudication treatment for first offense DUI cases.
For accused citizens facing repeat DUI offenses, some may need to be processed through the DUI Court in Fulton County State Court. This same general advice applies when other serious motor vehicle crimes like hit and run GA, or reckless driving GA are involved.
An impaired driving conviction, whether by alcohol, drugs, noxious vapors, or marijuana, is not a simple motor vehicle violation like a red-light violation. A DUI in GA is categorized (under Georgia laws) as a serious motor vehicle charge. Depending upon case circumstances, even a 1st DUI that involves an accident which results in serious bodily injury or death to another can be categorized as a felony DUI in GA.
However, a first or second DUI within 10 years (using dates of arrest to measure) are misdemeanor crimes. A 3rd DUI can be a high and aggravated misdemeanor offense, while a 4th DUI within ten years will be accused as a felony.
Significantly, Georgia law allows no first offender, expunction or “record restriction” on DUI cases of any type. Therefore, every drunken driving conviction remains with the DUI offender for life. This draconian punishment justifies seeking local DUI attorneys who have proven expertise in DUI defense.
Arrests by police officers in Milton GA for a DUI offense will allow your DUI legal advocate to try to settle your case for a lesser offense. Such resolutions (like a DUI reduced to reckless driving GA) in the Municipal Court of Milton have been achieve in hundreds of our law firm’s cases.
If that type of negotiated plea fails, your criminal law attorney can request a trial by jury at the Fulton County State Court, which is located in downtown Atlanta GA. Often, our Fulton County DUI attorneys are able to secure reductions of first DUI offense charges to such a lesser offense.
But, not all case facts are the same, and a high BAC reading or significant accident case may be more difficult to negotiate out. For certain, the Milton Solicitor will usually require a clean prior driving history (i.e., no DUI convictions) for a deal to be considered.
If arrested for a GA DUI, and you are now searching for names of top-rated drunk driving lawyers near me, not just any DUI-DWI defense lawyers near me will do. However, it is highly advisable to immediately contact a Milton DUI lawyer in order to protect your right to continue to drive, since almost every arrest for intoxicated driving results in the arrestee's plastic license being taken by the police.
By hiring experienced DUI attorneys like ex-police officer Cory Yager or Larry Kohn, you have the advantage of being represented by well-known, tenacious DUI defenders. Both seasoned Georgia drunk driving lawyers are aware of the many legal challenges that can be asserted in Court to try to eliminate harmful evidence (like the breathalyzer test).
These two veteran litigators have learned how to avoid a DUI conviction from William “Bubba” Head. A reduced plea will lessen the consequences of the original arrest charge and dodge a potential conviction for DUI Georgia.
Why not put your faith and your money behind the best DUI lawyers near me, based on credentials and experience? Bubba Head, a 1976 UGA law school graduate, is one of the nation’s few Board Certified DUI defense attorneys. The National College for DUI Defense regulates board certification, as overseen by the ABA (American Bar Association).
Dozens of legal challenges by a DUI lawyer can be asserted on your behalf. A short list of these legal challenges can include:
Efforts to eliminate the post-arrest police forensic testing can win your DUI case. Partner William Head leads all GA lawyers for having successful appeals relating to excluding either DUI refusals or the forensic tests collected by police.
By use of motions in limine or motions to suppress, your criminal lawyers can challenge the admissibility of such evidence. Winning the pre-trail hearing can lead to a reduction of charges or a dismissal of the charges. These challenges are best handled by experienced, skilled criminal law attorneys.
Our law firm’s Milton DUI lawyers know when, where and how to obtain the necessary information from police records and videos that will permit us to argue the legal points and challenge certain factual issues in your DUI prosecution. As you will see in the graphic set forth below, all of our DUI defense lawyers are nationally published, legal book co-authors.
For potential clients who drive company vehicles for a living, or are rideshare drivers, the mere arrest for DUI creates immediate problems. A DUI conviction typically ends those jobs and remains an impediment for years to come.
These devastating driver license consequences for a potential client drastically alter our plan of attack. Also, remember that even before a DUI conviction in criminal court can occurs, some drivers (those who refused to be tested under implied consent) may lose their Georgia driving privileges under the state’s administrative license suspension law, which poses a risk of a civil license suspension for a full year.
To avoid a possible license suspension by opting to obtain ignition interlock-restricted driving privileges, some of these same clients who drive for their living end their ability to work. This is because only ONE vehicle can be driven by these interlock-restricted drivers. Georgia laws for the IID permit do not permit multiple vehicles to have interlock devices and be driven, like some other states.
For 100% of all arrested DUI drivers, you or your lawyer must act and utilize ONE or the OTHER of these actions involving the Georgia Department of Driver Services within 30 days. For all DUI drivers who have been arrested for DUI, one of these two post-arrest options must be chosen:
Other consequences of a DUI that an accused citizen might face include the requirement of performing community service hours, having possible additional jail time, positively having to stay on probation for the remainder of one year, paying state fines and related state surcharges. For many clients, the loss of employment, loss of a job-related security clearance, and the inability to travel abroad (especially for those in active military or in the National Guard) to certain foreign countries are the most painful and embarrassing consequences of a DUI conviction.
The 7 Questions Our Potential Clients Ask Our Milton DUI AttorneysWilliam C. Head, a lifetime Georgia native, is a GA DUI defense lawyer near me. The Columbus GA native has practiced DUI defense law in Georgia for over forty-five 45 years. The 1976 UGA law graduate has been writing books about ways to win DUI cases for over thirty (30) of those years. For Georgia DUI laws, the top-selling book has always been the Georgia D.U.I. Trial Practice Manual, now published annually by Thomson-Reuters, the world’s largest legal book publisher.
Overview of DUI first offenses under DUI laws in GA: Defendants ages 21 and older will be deemed to have been driving under the influence of alcohol if their post-arrest alcohol level (within three hours of the driving or actual physical control ending) if she or he registered 0.08 grams percent or greater on a forensic test.
If the driver was under 21 years of age, and his or her BAC level registered 0.02 grams % within that same 3-hour window after driving ended, those underage drivers would be in violation of Georgia’s DUI laws.
Further, a driver in GA may be found guilty of DUI even if a person does not have an illegal BAC level. A charge might be prosecuted when the driver refuses the implied consent test after arrest, or if the driver has a BAC under 0.08 if the accused person was driving in an unsafe manner or caused an accident (or both).
In the State of Georgia, DUI offenses will be a misdemeanor or a felony. When a fatality or a serious bodily injury occurs in a DUI arrest, this first DUI can be the predicate serious misdemeanor that supports adding felony charges of serious injury by vehicle or vehicular homicide GA, first degree.
If repeat offenses are the issue, then the classification of this arrest depends on the number of past DUI convictions. Alternatively, if this arrest has child passengers under the age of 14, each of those passengers supports an additional DUI charge, with no limit to the number of DUIs that can generate.
By way of example, if this conviction would be a driver’s DUI first conviction, the charge is a serious misdemeanor DUI. However, if that same DUI 1st offense driver has 3 children as passengers, all under age 14, she or he faces a 1st DUI, DUI second offense, 3rd DUI (high and aggravated misdemeanor) and a 4th offense felony DUI. These child endangerment DUI rules apply to all cases made July 1, 2008, and after.
Reasons to Retain Our Firm's DUI Lawyers Milton, GAIf you are facing a DUI offense (1st DUI, 2nd DUI in GA, or other offense), you should immediately contact a skilled Milton DUI attorney who is also a Fulton County DUI attorney. The best lawyers near me will be with a legal firm that has handled hundreds of DUI trials Including jury trials) and has negotiated thousands of non-DUI dispositions for cases like yours.
Call today, 24 hours a day, at (404) 567-5515 and talk with a criminal defense expert in an extensive, FREE lawyer consultation. With over ten thousand (10,000) successful cases under our three belts, our law firm professionals are confident that our litigation professionals can help offer your best solution.
Milton DUI arrests are increasing, and so are our office locations. As the northern part of Fulton County has grown, more DUI arrests in Milton GA have been booked into Fulton County DUI records.
Our litigation team has three locations for our DUI Lawyers near me in Fulton County GA. One law office location is at 235 Peachtree Street, in downtown Atlanta (Suite 400), near the Fulton State Court building.
The main office is in Sandy Springs within the Prado Shopping Center, near the intersection of I-285 and Roswell Road. The closest to Milton Municipal Court is in downtown Alpharetta, GA. Our Cobb County office is in downtown Marietta GA, close to the Marietta Square.