7 Tips to Avoid a GA DUI Conviction

 By: William C. Head, Criminal Defense Attorney Atlanta GA and ABA Board-Certified DUI Attorney

Arrested for DUI in Georgia? Georgia Driver’s License Taken?  Need an Atlanta DUI Lawyer? – What You Must Do Next

A drunk driving arrest can be a nightmare.  Most Georgia DUI cases occur within a 25-mile radius of Atlanta, GA.  Much of this article deals with DUI Atlanta cases (within a 30- mile radius) and finding the top Atlanta DUI lawyers near me.

Interim Driver’s License, the 30-Day Letter, and the Georgia DDS

The arresting officer sends your plastic Georgia driver’s license to Georgia Driver Services (GA Department of Driver Services), and the DUI officer issues you an interim driver’s license on a piece of paper that is only good for 30 days.  Then, you read online that this interim driver’s license is misleading, and that (under Georgia implied consent law) you must appeal your DDS GA license suspension within “30 days” after your DUI arrest or suffer a one-year Georgia driver’s license suspension.

That is when you should search for Georgia DUI lawyers or Atlanta DUI attorneys who are experts in criminal defense law relating to driving while intoxicated cases.

7 Critical DUI Defense Action Items for People Arrested for DUI in Georgia – What to Do When You Get Home

1. Do not miss the 30-day DDS appeal deadline for Georgia’s implied consent law administrative license suspension.  If you have retained legal counsel, let your DUI attorney in Atlanta assist you with your Georgia Department of Driver Services appeal. Effective July 1, 2017, Georgia DUI law was amended to include an ignition interlock option for people who waive their right to a DDS ALS appeal. Call our office today to find out which option is best for you.
2. Hire a Georgia DUI lawyer. Should that be an Atlanta DUI lawyer or a local GA DUI attorney?  Or, hire both – a local lawyer familiar with your DUI court, and an Atlanta DUI lawyer who is a known DUI lawyer?
3. If a commercial bonding company posted your DUI bail, stay in touch with them, or have your Atlanta DUI attorney communicate with them that your DUI case is under control.
4. If a friend or family member posted your DUI bail, ask your DUI attorney to prepare an “assignment of bond” form for the DUI bail bond person to sign, so that you can use that money once your DUI case is resolved in Atlanta Municipal Court or another Georgia DUI court.
5. Ask your GA DUI lawyer for a checklist of things to be doing to help your DUI case. Possible actions include:
   1. Obtaining medical records of any prior orthopedic injury, surgery, or disability, or similar records for other pre-existing medical conditions, that your DUI attorney may need for court.
   2. Gathering names and contact information for fact witnesses about the hours prior to your DUI arrest.  These can be friends, your spouse or significant other, or a bartender or server.  Your drunk driving lawyer also may ask you to go back to the restaurant or bar to get a printed copy of the total bill that most food and beverage establishments retain on their computerized transaction software.
   3. Gathering any photos of you (bruises, Taser marks, injuries from a car accident) or photos of the roadway conditions (i.e., construction repaving, lack of white lines) made by a family member or friend who is not going to be a possible prosecution witness against you.  You likely will not testify, so ANOTHER person should take photos or short videos of relevant roadway information, in case authentication of time and place are later needed.
   4. Locating prior DUI records from your former DUI lawyer, or the previous clerk of court of your previous DUI case or cases, in any state.  The prosecutor can access national drunk driving records, so your DUI attorney needs to know the exact disposition of a DUI first defense, 2nd DUI, etc.
   5. Following your Georgia DUI lawyer’s advice on getting an “assessment” of possible alcohol or drug addiction from an approved Georgia alcohol and drug addiction professional. Also, sign up for and attend DUI classes now, to help with possible sentence mitigation in your DUI court, or to assist in getting your DUI reduced to reckless driving or other favorable disposition.
6. Take steps to protect your Georgia driver’s license or your driver’s license issued by another state. CAUTION: You cannot risk violating other laws (e.g., perjury) by making a false statement on a driver’s license application, such as “My driver’s license is lost,” when that is not true.  Ask your Georgia DUI attorney.
7. Stay out of ANY type of new criminal trouble. When a new DUI or other serious driving offense occurs while a previous DUI is pending, both the first criminal case and the second criminal case are affected.  This blanket statement is ignored or not followed by about 10% of people with a pending drunk driving case, so be one of the smarter 90%, for your best chance at an excellent outcome.

Our Atlanta DUI Lawyer Team – Our Network of the Best Georgia DUI Attorneys

Whether your arrest was for an Atlanta DUI or a drunk driving charge ANYWHERE IN GEORGIA, our DUI attorney specialists will go to court for you.  No other law firms near me can match the awards for excellence and legal industry recognitions of our criminal law attorneys. Here are brief profiles of the Georgia DUI attorneys at our Atlanta law firm.

Partners:

William C. Head, Atlanta DUI Lawyer, with 43 years of drunk driving defense, Board-Certified in DUI Defense, Best Lawyers in America, SuperLawyers

Lawrence A. Kohn, DUI Attorney Atlanta, in his 21st year of DUI defense, SuperLawyers

Cory E. Yager, Atlanta DUI Attorney, in his 11th year of DUI defense, after 9 ½ years as a Georgia police officer, SuperLawyers Rising Star

Searching for The Best DUI Attorney in GA

Some people foolishly try to self-assess their chances of winning the DUI in GA. The operable word here is “FOOLISHLY.” Just reading TRUE DUI case histories with:

1. BAC levels triple the legal limit for alcohol.
2. A DUI refusal and failing all three NHTSA field sobriety tests
3. Another drunk driving case report of a DUI checkpoint with an Intoxilyzer breath test double the legal alcohol limit.

After being arrested for DUI in GA, some people are so depressed that they dwell on their mistake the night before, and not on beating the criminal charges. Fear of the unknown can be a powerful enemy. Our DUI lawyer partners WELCOME comparing criminal attorney comparisons. For example, our law firm has three different law book authors, which is unique in Georgia and possibly in all of America.

A successful defense record for all Atlanta DUI attorneys in the law firm must include possessing the ability to neutralize field sobriety test evidence and finding ways to eliminate breath alcohol test results, especially where the “number” is in excess of the legal alcohol limit. Plus, knowing the LAW is critical, and entails our DUI attorneys being familiar with every prior appellate decision on Georgia DUI laws and especially Georgia implied consent law.

Drugged driving cases have grown by 100% in the last 15 years. Sleep driving DUI cases, after taking prescribed medications for insomnia or pain management are up by 400%. Plus, a conviction for DUI-drugs has more devastating DUI penalties in Georgia that a DUI-alcohol case, due to a more severe loss of driving privileges and other loss of entitlements (e.g., loss of the GA Hope Scholarship due to a “drugs” conviction).

Each DUI attorney in our law office possesses special training on debunking “drug recognition” officers’ training and roadside tests like the “modified Romberg test” and the less-extensive ARIDE protocols which require that our criminal defense lawyers know how to challenge a GBI blood alcohol or drugs test. Each of our Atlanta lawyers is an INSTRUCTOR in the three NHTSA standardized field sobriety tests (SFST), which exceeds the training of most police officers making arrests for DUI in Georgia.

The best DUI lawyers in Atlanta, Georgia will offer you a FREE attorney consultation, explain how their criminal defense attorneys review your DUI case facts, and implement a game plan for winning. Our three Georgia Super Lawyers aggressively represent clients accused of committing crimes through filing and arguing suppression motions. Limit your search to a lawyer for DUI who has achieved legitimate legal industry excellence attorney ratings, and who possesses a track record of proven drunk driving defense results on knowing how to beat a DUI.

If our law firm has the RIGHT criminal defense attorney for you, ask our law office for your FREE lawyer consultation near me and about our DUI attorney payment plans.

Call our DUI attorneys NOW, 24-7, for an initial criminal case review and to obtain FREE legal advice: 404-567-5515, or email our criminal justice lawyers.

Additional Resources

• How much does a DUI cost over 10 years
• How to Beat a DUI in GA
• What does DUI stand for
• DUI in Georgia first offense
• DUI in Georgia
• 2^nd DUI in GA
• DUI stands for