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By: William C. Head, Criminal Defense Attorney Atlanta GA and ABA Board-Certified DUI Attorney
NOTE: Calling a DUI lawyer immediately after a DUI in Georgia is wise. New laws affecting options exist for avoiding total suspension of your driving privileges.
A primary purpose for enactment of the new implied consent law pertaining to driver’s license administrative suspension options, O.C.G.A. §40-5-64.1, effective July 1, 2017, is to avoid risking suspension after an appeal, by waiving the right to a DUI refusal hearing for ALS suspension, in exchange for agreeing to install an ignition interlock device in your vehicle for 12 months (restrictions and rules apply).
Bottom links for each Stage of the administrative license suspension process allow you to go between pages, to get a full understanding of how to deal with your license suspension GA due to a DUI.
By understanding the steps that will be followed in a DUI arrest, you can help your drunk driving lawyer defend you better. You simply want to protect your Georgia DDS driving record and know “how to get your license back after a DUI arrest.”
Following virtually every Georgia DUI arrest, the detained driver is relieved of his or her driver’s license, and a limited license is given to replace it. Under Georgia DUI laws, a person arrested for DUI GA must informed (by the arresting officer) of his or her “implied consent” rights. Under GA DUI law, this is to be done immediately, after arrest for DUI has occurred. The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that the detained driver has no right to contact an attorney until after implied consent testing has been completed.
These unfair and illogical rules about a person under arrest for DUI in Georgia confuse and frighten anyone arrested for drunk driving. Georgia DUI book author and veteran DUI lawyer of more than 41 years, William C. Head, has graphically laid out the DUI license suspension path and the ALS appeal process in the 7 sections of this article.
The confiscation of the license of the DUI driver signifies that the officer has taken the first step of an administrative license suspension (ALS) process that has many twists and turns before it is over. This taking of your driver’s license creates a DUI suspended license. Now that you have a license suspension GA pending, you must find out the limitations of the DUI temporary license you were issued, in place of your driver’ license.
Since American jurisprudence and the Constitution call for due process of law, you CAN and you SHOULD request a hearing by following a detailed appeal process. This vital step protects against your pending license suspension going against you, and triggering loss of all driving privileges.
Read Over the DDS Form 1205 After your GA DUI Arrest
Because anyone arrested for driving under the influence will be stressed and distracted by being arrested and going to jail, bonding out, retrieving their vehicle and still having to deal with work and family issues, overlooking key DDS GA filing deadlines and license suspension appeal dates are common.
As unfortunate as an oversight in adhering to a filing deadline might be, the Georgia Department of Driver Services (Georgia’s DMV or DPS, for drivers from other states) WILL NOT be excused.
To save your license, you (or your DUI defense attorney) must strictly comply with the 30-day time limit, after your GA DUI arrest. Call our lawyers for drivers license suspension issues NOW, at our 24 hour law firm. 404-567-5515.
Officer Chooses the Type of Implied Consent Test to be Given on DUI Arrest
Where the implied consent advisement asks to “designate which tests,” an officer in Georgia is permitted to ask for a breath, blood or urine test, two types of tests, or all three types of tests. The arrested driver does not get to choose, but CAN get an independent test of his or her own choosing, but only after submitting to the officer’s DUI test.
Recent U S Supreme Court cases have placed restrictions on use of blood collection, for an implied consent test, unless special circumstances (or your actual, voluntary consent) occurs.
The last sentence of the implied consent warning asks the driver under arrest, “Will you submit to the state-administered chemical tests of your (designate which tests) under the implied consent law?” So, you are being asked to agree to be tested on a breath alcohol test or other forensic test, to obtain your BAC level or drug content within your blood.
In fact, the Georgia Court of Appeals is so eager to see that DUI drivers have to face their implied consent test results in court, where the officer read the informed consent card verbatim — “designate which tests”—that the intermediate court of appeals in Georgia ruled that this was good enough for government work.
Follow the Sequence of Events That Police Use in Most DUI Georgia Arrests
The first flow chart below shows the initial steps after a DUI arrest in Georgia, which includes the steps taken by the law enforcement officer who arrested you. Immediately after arrest, he or she is required to orally read the applicable Georgia implied consent law “notice.”
This notice is contained on a printed, folded state of Georgia form, printed on an orange card, and carried by Georgia police officers who make traffic ticket stops and DUI arrests. Separate warnings apply to underage drivers (under age 21), CMV drivers (commercial motor vehicles and school buses), and all other drivers age 21 and over.
©2017 William C. Head, Atlanta, GA. All rights reserved, including “look and feel.”
After being arrested for DUI in Georgia, the first thing to do it identify an expert on Georgia DUI law through top attorney ratings. Look at who is BEHIND the law firm, review each of the trial lawyers’ credentials, and check out the criminal defense attorney who leads the law office. Every experienced DUI lawyer in the law firm must have full command of DUI laws and possess training in all aspects of successfully challenging the driving under the influence criminal case.
This successful defense record must include suppressing breath alcohol tests, and knowing every prior appellate decision on the Georgia implied consent law. An increasing number of drugged driving cases require that our criminal defense lawyers know how to challenge a GBI blood alcohol or drugs test. Being an INSTRUCTOR in the three NHTSA standardized field sobriety tests (SFST) is also necessary.
The best DUI attorneys in Atlanta, Georgia will offer you a FREE consultation, explain how their criminal attorneys search for a successful defense in your case, and aggressively represent clients to the maximum extent the law allows. Limit your search to DUI lawyers who have legitimate lawyer ratings and a history of proven results on knowing how to beat a DUI. If we are the criminal defense attorneys for you, ask us about our attorney payment plans.
Call our DUI defense lawyers NOW, 24-7, for an initial case review and FREE legal advice: 404-567-5515, or email our criminal justice attorneys.
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