Can I Talk to a DUI Lawyer in GA Before Taking Implied Consent Test?

Can I Talk to a DUI Lawyer in GA Before Taking an Implied Consent Test? No Miranda Rights Before the DUI Test

You Have No Right to Contact a Criminal Defense Attorney Before the Implied Consent Test After Your DUI GA Arrest

1. NO. Not in Georgia. In North Carolina and several other states, you would have this right, to contact and speak to a drunk driving lawyer, before having to decide to refuse or to take the implied consent DUI You will receive no Miranda rights before the implied consent test in Georgia DUI cases.
2. If you don’t know the right to remain silent and exercise that right, no Georgia police officer is going to Mirandize you, unless the officer plans to question you after you are arrested for drunk driving (for example, when evidence of a new crime is found in your pockets or vehicle). Many citizens THINK the officer read them their Miranda warning, but (instead) the officer was reading the Georgia implied consent law notification.

Breath, Blood, or Urine Tests Are More Important Than Constitutional Rights

Upon hearing the implied consent notice, some people arrested for a Georgia DUI immediately ask to talk to a Georgia DUI attorney, but are told “no” by the arresting officer. Most Americans who are cuffed and under arrest BELIEVE that they are entitled to then speak to an attorney for DUI or a criminal defense lawyer.

Do not wait for business hours. A FREE lawyer consultation with a co-author of Georgia’s leading DUI law book is available 24 hours a day when you call our DUI defense law firm at (404) 567-5515.

Our Georgia Supreme Court, in 2006, ruled that the constitutional right to counsel does not give an arrested driver the right to talk to a lawyer before deciding whether to take the state’s test.

By virtue of the defective language in the implied consent law in GA, that the best DUI lawyers have argued compels the arrested person to take the test, only a person who knowingly violates the law (by a DUI refusal)

Other States Honor the Constitution & Allow Limited Attorney Contact

While a person is arrested for DUI-DWI in other states (e.g., NC) he or she will be told when and where a drunk driving attorney can be contacted, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that there is no right to contact legal counsel in GA, before the person has incriminated himself or herself, either by submitting to the test or by refusing the implied consent test.

This DUI refusal can be used to suspend your Georgia driver’s license. A refusal of a blood test (not the state breath test) can also be used (by the criminal case prosecutor) as harmful evidence in a DUI criminal case, to argue that you did not want to face your numeric BAC levels (blood alcohol content) readings or drug results.

The Current Georgia Implied Consent Law Notice Is Defective

Despite changes in U S Supreme Court rulings in both 2013 (Missouri v. McNeely) and 2016 (Birchfield v. North Dakota), as applied to implied consent testing for alcohol, blood cannot simply be taken without a warrant for officer convenience. Yet, the Georgia Legislature has ignored these rulings, and not changed the clearly defective language of the current implied consent card.

When a person hears the verbally-delivered advisement, he or she is told that the officer can ask for a blood test, but police can no longer take blood without a warrant unless the driver freely consents or the facts of that case create an exigency (a crash with serious injury or death may, but courts decide it case by case). The same rule applies in a DUI-drugs case, even though a breath test cannot detect or quantitate drug quantities.

Unstated in the Georgia implied consent law notice currently in place is the fact that the results of your post-arrest testing on a breath alcohol test can also be used to convict you in the criminal court case.

This “mixing” of administrative driver’s license penalties (in the warning) and the use of post-arrest, self-incriminatory forensic tests to convict a person violates the Georgia Constitution, according to a Cobb State Court judge, which ruling is now being appealed by the State of Georgia.

Mr. Head won this suppression hearing in the State Court of Cobb County in 2016 and is now trying to change Georgia DUI laws.

Implied Consent Law: What Does Implied Consent Mean?

The Georgia implied consent law notice in Ga is part of a statute, OCGA 40-5-67.1. Law enforcement officers are required to read this “warning” to the arrested drunk driver, and the notice notifies you that a refusal to participate in the post-arrest testing will suspend your driver’s license for a full year.

This harsh loss of driving privileges, under Georgia’s implied consent law, is among the toughest in America.

Effective July 1, 2017, a new implied consent ignition interlock device (IID) alternative has softened the Georgia DUI law, but the consequences of refusal to test are severe.

A new Georgia implied consent driver’s license law that was passed by the Georgia General Assembly went into effect July 1, 2017, wherein a driver facing this inflexible, total loss of driving privileges, who has no DUI conviction in the past five years, now can opt (by applying within 30 days of the suspension notice and giving up the license hearing) for a one-year ignition interlock device (IID) being installed, and then drive on that interlock restricted permit.

The risks and pitfalls of accepting this alternative are severe, but trying to find a way to drive (especially with an Atlanta DUI) is essential to most working people.

Drunk Driving Attorneys Are Standing by to Talk About Your GA DUI

If you need an attorney for DUI charges. whether an Atlanta first DUI offense or a 2nd DUI in GA, call our best lawyers in Atlanta. CALL our DUI Law Firm now. We are available 24/7 to speak to you.

You will be represented by a Georgia Super Lawyer in DUI Defense, and one of the best Atlanta DUI lawyers, not by an associate or contract lawyer.

The call is FREE. The lawyer consultation is FREE. (404) 567-5515

More Articles About Georgia’s Implied Consent Law

Click any of the links below to learn more about Georgia’s implied consent law and how it may affect your DUI case:

• What Does Implied Consent Mean?
• Implied Consent Laws and Your Driver’s License
• Alcohol Tests Under Georgia’s Implied Consent Law
• DUI Test Refusal and Georgia’s Implied Consent Law
• Driver’s License Loss and Implied Consent Law
• 7 Ways to Have License Suspended by Implied Consent Law
• Avoiding DUI License Suspension Under Georgia Implied Consent Law
• How Do I Get My License Back?
• Implied Consent 30-Day DDS Letter
• Miranda Rights Are Not Part of Georgia Implied Consent Law in a DUI Arrest
• Three Warnings in OCGA 40-5-67.1
• GA Implied Consent Law: License Suspension in GA
• Implied Consent and DUI Less Safe in Georgia
• Georgia Implied Consent Law Interlock Option