By: Georgia Lawyers Near Me for DUI, Larry Kohn, and Cory Yager of GeorgiaCriminalDefense.com
What do police say when they arrest you? This is a very common question of our DUI attorneys from our clients in Georgia who are arrested for drunk driving or drugged driving. Georgia is the only state in the Union where important legal advisements are routinely read immediately after arrest at the roadside, rather than at the police station.
Many shocked and surprised clients later assume that the police interrogation case, Miranda v. Arizona is the basis of what is being read. In 99% of all DUI GA cases, if anything at all is being read at the roadway to you by a law enforcement officer, it is the Georgia implied consent notice, and not the Miranda rights words. If any DUI lawyer tells you otherwise, he or she may be misleading you to try to get you to pay that Firm a retainer fee.
When Are You Supposed to Be Read Your Miranda Rights in Conjunction With a DUI in Georgia?
This blog post answers the twelve (12) multiple, similar inquiries our criminal lawyers near me are asked by clients taken into police custody for suspected driving under the influence criminal charges.
- What do cops say when they arrest you in Georgia? Usually they ONLY read you the green card shown above, which are the statutory words of three variations of the implied consent warnings in the State of Georgia. So, to answer the question, what do police say when arresting someone for impaired driving, it will be these verbal notifications.
- Do cops have to read Miranda rights? Not in the garden-variety DUI investigation and subsequent arrest. The questions below flesh out this distinction. In other states, an opposite outcome may occur, since a Miranda warning California and a North Carolina DWI case will include Miranda notices, plus be told their implied consent rights.
- What happens if Miranda rights are not given after a Georgia DUI arrest? If not read your Miranda rights, DUI arrestees in the Peach State can only complain if they were then interrogated by police to elicit more evidence of a crime.
- Was the DUI warning I received after arrest the DUI Miranda Rights? No, it was not. Police in Georgia are only supposed to read your implied consent rights, telling you about your legal responsibility to submit to a post-arrest chemical test of breath or blood. Verbally declining that test or simply not saying “yes” to taking it, constitutes a basis for that officer to file a DDS 1205 form, administratively suspending your driving privileges in Georgia.
- Do police have to read Miranda rights? In our initial conversations with those arrested for drunken driving, common questions asked by our clients include, “do police have to read you your rights?,” or “when must Miranda rights be read to me?” Except in rare circumstances, described below, police in GA are trained to NOT read Miranda advisements, for fear that the suspect will believe that she or he can stop the DUI arrest process and call an attorney.
- Are DUI cases dismissed due to Miranda rights not being read to the person being arrested? Not in the Peach State. No court of law in Georgia will find appellate case authority supporting dismissal for omitting that advisement relating to the 5th Amendment right to not be asked self-incriminatory questions after arrest. Since no additional “custodial interrogation” is typically being undertaken on the way to jail or at the breath testing or blood testing location, Miranda admonishments do not apply.
- What happens if you are not read your Miranda rights in GA? If you remain silent, this issue is of no importance. However, some angry or aggravated drivers begin a verbal assault or diatribe against the officer, all of which is being recorded. This spontaneous and ill-advised litany of harmful, unsolicited blathering may seal your fate of being found guilty of DUI and end your chance of getting a reduction of the DUI charges.
- What are the Miranda warnings? Miranda v Arizona is a US Supreme Court case from 1966. It had nothing to do with DWI-DUI laws. In short, the murder case conviction was overturned because the police officer who arrested Ernesto Miranda failed to advise him of his right to have an attorney present during questioning. Nor did the officer tell him he could remain silent, without answering any questions. Lastly, the police did not tell the detained man that if he could not afford an attorney, that one would be appointed for him at no cost. To read the full Miranda rights speech, click on the foregoing link.
- When do Miranda rights have to be read? In DUI arrests, only when post-arrest incriminatory questions are being asked. In the rare instances when this occurs, the criminal defense attorney representing you can file a motion to suppress all those questions and answers, but not have the case dismissed.
- In cases where Miranda rights were not read, can this lead to a dismissal of the driving under the influence charge? No, it will not. The best your criminal defense legal advocate could do is to eliminate that evidence by pre-trial motion in limine, so that the jury never hears it.
- When does a cop have to read you your rights? Occasionally, during the post-arrest inventory of your vehicle before it is towed, an officer may find contraband items or a weapon or new evidence of a different crime, and then he or she will Mirandize that already arrested DUI driver and try to ask for more incriminatory evidence about that potential, new crime.
- Can you sue for not being read your Miranda rights? Our DUI lawyers have never known about or heard of such a lawsuit being successful.
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