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By: William C. Head, Board-Certified DUI Lawyer, DUI Book Legal Author, and Georgia DUI Lawyer for 47 Years.
Parents of college students who search for “DUI attorney Athens, GA” will find dozens of names for criminal defense attorneys at DUI law firms WILLING to take their criminal case. However, these parents may be viewing websites posted by local criminal law attorneys who are NOT known for fighting DUI cases at trial when that is necessary.
Because a driving under the influence conviction is FOREVER, and DUI convictions can drastically limit a student’s job opportunities after graduation, many UGA college students look for the best Athens Georgia DUI lawyers for their pending misdemeanor DUI case. Plus, if under age 21, and convicted of DUI or reckless driving GA, their driving privileges will be suspended.
The criminal DUI case will almost always start in the Athens-Clarke County Municipal Court (sometimes referred to as the “Athens County Municipal Court”). The DUI lawyer Athens will leave the case in that non-jury court — at least initially. If a jury trial is the desired option, the Athens-Clarke County State Court is available, at the client’s request.
Athens GA DUI lawyer William Head, Mr. Larry Kohn, and Mr. Cory Yager have extensive training on field sobriety test challenges and the science behind breath alcohol test reliability attacks. All three legal professionals are trained as NHTSA S.F.S.T. Instructors on the field sobriety tests.
Mr. Yager is a former police officer who knows how police officers are trained to make driving while intoxicated arrests. He also was trained on how to investigate and properly document motor vehicle crashes. Plus, he made over 1000 alcohol-impaired driving arrests in his career of nearly a decade.
Because all DUI arrests have the potential for jail time, fighting a case is important, In addition, a conviction (once recorded) is permanent. The State of Georgia has never allowed record restriction of a DUI from someone’s permanent record.
A first offense DUI, 1 2nd DUI in GA and even a 3rd DUI within a ten-year period are all misdemeanor crimes, yet punishment ramps up sharply on repeat offenses. A 4th felony DUI offense in 10 years (these dates are all “date of arrest” to the next arrest date(s).
Find the Best DUI Attorney in Athens, GA
William Head began practicing as an Athens DUI attorney in 1976. This was before most other DUI attorneys in Athens were out of elementary school, or (in some cases) born. If you don’t think experience matters, have a brand-new surgeon operate on you the next time surgery is needed.
“Mr. Head was a tremendous help in our child’s DUI litigation. I could not have made a better choice. Mr. Head and his team were invaluable in navigating the system. They were supportive and informative as they presented the possible courses of action.” – Recent client testimonial
Georgia DUI lawyers William C. “Bubba” Head, Larry Kohn, and ex-cop-turned-attorney Cory Yager are law partners who handle all types of misdemeanor and felony criminal cases located in and around the Athens, Georgia area. No other firm handling DUI in Georgia has handled more impaired driving cases statewide than our criminal defense lawyers near me.
No Athens-based DUI lawyer is a legal book author nor is Board Certified by the National College for DUI Defense. No other Clarke County law firm has half the number of Super Lawyers recognitions as our Georgia legal firm.
For drunk driving or drugged driving, each criminal defense attorney at our law firm is a top DUI lawyer. Our local DUI lawyers can handle a 1st offense DUI charge, 2nd DUI in GA, or even your eighth DUI arrest in Athens, GA.
DUI cases are highly technical, and they involve a lot of complicated science and test measurements. Cases are usually won by identifying and attacking police arrest mistakes or discovering errors in breathalyzer machine calibrations.
That is why your attorney must be highly trained in all police arrest procedures and must know exactly how a breath test machine can record false readings. The same familiarity on how to challenge a blood test is equally important.
A DUI arrest in Athens, GA will guarantee a trip to the Athens-Clarke County Jail and posting bond for release, pending the criminal court case moving forward. Before hiring a law firm, you need to look at all lawyers in Athens GA who are seasoned criminal attorneys, and who specialize in DUI defense.
DUI attorney Bubba Head is only one of only four attorneys in Georgia (out of 40,000 Georgia lawyers) who is board certified as a DUI defense attorney. More important than this rare legal industry recognition, Mr. Head has written The Georgia DUI Trial Practice Manual for over a quarter of a century. (See image below).
Bubba Head learned criminal defense law practice, and particularly DUI defense law, in Athens, Georgia, and the surrounding counties, after graduating from UGA law school in 1976. He has had law office space in both Athens and Lexington, GA.
Read the national news article below, covering a novel, successful criminal defense in an Athens case, based on going against the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to prove that Georgia’s breathalyzer test machine in the 1980s was defective.
This article explains how criminal defense lawyer Bubba Head challenged the ability of the alcohol breath test used in Georgia to reliably flag for (identity) volatile chemicals coming from a person’s body, due to occupational exposure and NOT alcohol. These chemicals were similar chemical compounds to ethanol (drinking alcohol). The hydrocarbon fumes of these chemicals were inhaled at our client’s workplace.
University of Georgia Athens Campus
This victory was for a man who faced harsh DUI punishment if convicted. The alleged 0.20 breath alcohol test results in his pending Athens DUI case posed a challenge that most DUI attorneys would have not fought, and instead would have recommended a guilty plea. Mr. Head challenged the breath alcohol test result and saved his client from spending a long time in the Athens-Clarke County jail. This case was one of several publicized DUI Athens GA cases for which Mr. Head received local press coverage.
CAUTION: If your plastic driver’s license was confiscated, then you MUST either file a DDS Georgia appeal and pay the $150 filing fee OR qualify for the ignition interlock device option under OCGA 40-5-64.1. This law has a strict 30-DAY DEADLINE. Call today for more guidance.
Administrative license suspension hearings for DUI refusal or DUI over-the-limit cases are heard near the Athens-Clarke County Courthouse but in a different building. Below is a photo of Athens City Hall, where these ALS hearings are held. This building, in Council Chambers on the main (second) level, is where the administrative law judge conducts license suspension hearings once a month.
It is located at 301 College Avenue, Athens, GA 30603. This historic structure is about 400 yards from the entrance to the Athens-Clarke County Courthouse, at the intersection of Washington Street and College Avenue.
Don’t try calling the Athens-Clarke County Clerk of Court about these ALS hearings, because the criminal courts in Athens have no connection to administrative license suspension proceedings. The office handling these hearings operates out of Atlanta, and it is called the OSAH (Office of State Administrative Hearings, a State of Georgia agency).
If you are convicted of drunk driving or drugged driving, you will have to perform community service hours in Athens, and attend DUI classes. Athens DUI class or DUI school is officially called the “Risk Reduction Program,” and it consists of 40 hours of classroom instruction – even for a DUI first offense. Our DUI attorneys near me will also explain to you what Georgia’s implied consent law means.
Graphic About DUI Penalties by State
Community service is generally 40 hours for a 1st DUI, and 240 hours for a 2nd DUI or 3rd DUI. The community service penalty can be more or less than this if you are convicted of misdemeanor DUI or another non-DUI offense like reckless driving. For more detailed information, see Mr. Head’s helpful DUI penalty chart.
The Athens-Clarke County Courthouse is located downtown at 325 East Washington Street, Athens, GA 30601. Multiple courts handling criminal matters are now located within this single building. Before consolidation, DUI cases in the City of Athens were conducted at City Hall.
Recent Athens-Clarke County Courthouse expansion added space for the fourth Superior Court Judge. The expansion also alleviated the crowded workspace within the Athens County Municipal Court and other courts within this historic building.
However, two different misdemeanor courts may have your DUI case on their Athens-Clarke County court docket. Felony cases go to a different court (Superior Court of Athens-Clarke County). Your DUI citation paperwork should show whether your case is pending in the Athens-Clarke County Municipal Court (most cases are started here), in the State Court of Athens-Clarke County, or in the Athens-Clarke County Superior Court.
All criminal arrests will be handled by one of these 3 criminal courts. So, don’t expect there to be just ONE Athens Clarke County Clerk of Court.
The judges and the jurisdictional limits of the various Athens criminal courts are as follows:
Criminal defense attorney Bubba Head has been handling Athens DUI cases, misdemeanor criminal cases, and felony criminal cases in Clarke County and other northeast GA counties since 1976. If you need a criminal attorney in Athens or the surrounding counties, call our DUI attorneys at 1-800-462-8222 or 1-800-GO-BUBBA.
In addition to DUI, we assist citizens with underage possession of alcohol (MIP), possession of marijuana (less than an ounce), driving without a license, and driving with a suspended driver’s license.
Plus, any felony charges like serious injury by vehicle or vehicular homicide GA or any misdemeanor traffic offense can be handled by William C. “Bubba” Head, Larry Kohn, or Cory Yager (see our photos below).
Athens-Clarke County is one of five (5) consolidated governments in Georgia. Therefore, the Athens-Clarke County police are the primary law enforcement agency in Athens, and most DUI arrests are made by this department.
Athens-Clarke County Courthouse
If you need to contact one of the three Athens-Clarke County Clerk of Court offices, here is their contact information:
Municipal Court
State Court (Misdemeanor Cases)
Superior Court (Felony Cases)
Magistrate’s Court (Arrest Warrant or Search Warrant Issuance)
Whether your arrest was for an Athens GA DUI or for a drunk driving charge ANYWHERE IN GEORGIA, our DUI attorney specialists will go to court for you, and you may not have to appear at most court dates Here are brief profiles of the Georgia DUI attorneys at our firm.
Partners
William C. Head, Athens DUI Lawyer, with 47 years of drunk driving defense experience, DUI book author for 25 years, Board Certified in DUI Defense, Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers EVERY year since the award was started. “DUI Lawyer of the Year in Georgia” award for 2012, 2017 and 2022, from BestLawyers.com.
Lawrence A. Kohn, DUI Attorney Athens GA, in his 23rd year of DUI defense, with over 560 AVVO 5-star ratings.
Cory E. Yager, DUI Attorney Athens GA, in his 13th year of DUI defense, after 9 ½ years as a Georgia police officer, a Martindale-Hubbell highest rated (“av” and preeminent) attorney for over a decade.
Contact Athens DUI lawyer Cory Yager, Larry Kohn, or Bubba Head anytime day, night, or weekend at our Athens number. Call today on our toll-free number 1-800-462-8222, for that free DUI case assessment.
Mr. Head has helped families of UGA students defend against drunk driving and drugged driving charges for 45 years. His Athens law firm also handles drug possession and underage drinking cases, and Mr. Head is a UGA graduate (BA in History) and a UGA Law School graduate (1976).
