If you have been arrested and / or charged for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the state of Georgia, then you likely have a number of questions that will need to be answered. As you face the potential consequences of an ultimate conviction, it is imperative that you work with an Atlanta DUI attorney from The Law offices of Howard J. Weinstraub who can help answer your questions and ease any fears that you might have about the legal process moving forward.
To better equip you for the legalities to come in the days and weeks following your DUI charges, we have prepared a list of questions and answers that reflect the most commonly expressed queries and concerns from DUI defendants in the state of Georgia. After reading through the answers provided below, we urge you to contact our office to speak to an attorney about the details of your case. Together, we can devise a legal plan of defense to be used on your behalf.
How do I know if the police stop was made lawfully?
According to Georgia state law, a law enforcement officer can only pull
over a driver if the officer has "articulable suspicion" for
doing so. If the law enforcement officer cannot provide you with a reasonable
cause for pulling you over, then the stop may have been made illegally,
which could be used as a defense tactic in the case that is built on your behalf.
Any arrest that is made by a law enforcement officer must be backed by probable cause. A DUI case can be thrown out of court if it can be proven that the arrest was not based on probable cause, but rather on suspicion, bias, or another predisposed factor. At The Law Offices of Howard J. Weintraub, we can review the circumstances surrounding your police stop to determine whether or not you were pulled over for good reason.
Can I complete a DUI, Alcohol, or Drug Use Risk Reduction course online
if I'm convicted?
No. The Georgia Department of Driver Services, or DDS, does not accept
certificates of completion from online DUI, Alcohol, or Drug Use Risk
Reduction courses for the purpose of restoring an individual's driver's
license or driving privileges.
What is the 10-day warning?
If you were arrested for DUI in the state of Georgia, then you should
have been issued a form DPS-1205 if you refused to submit to chemical
testing. Law enforcement officers are required to issue the same form
to anyone who tested positive for a BAC in excess of 0.08% within 3 hours
of driving. Receiving this form means that you will have only 10 business
days from the time of your arrest to submit a letter of request for an
Administrative License Suspension hearing with the Georgia Department of Driver Services. Failure to do so could
result in driver's license suspension for up to 30 days after the
arrest; this is true whether or not a conviction is made.
Can I be convicted for the way I performed on a field sobriety test?
Many factors must be considered before an ultimate conviction for driving
under the influence can be made. As such, the court will review much more
than just the field sobriety tests that you were asked to perform at the
time you were pulled over on suspicion of DUI. The court must also consider
the fact that field sobriety tests are far from reliable in the results
that they yield. In fact, these methods of testing have become notorious
for the inaccurate results that they often portray.
If you have additional questions beyond those which are displayed above, don't be discouraged. It's good to have questions about the legalities that you may be facing as a DUI defendant in the state of Georgia. In fact, we encourage it. Don't hesitate to contact our office to speak directly with an attorney about the specifics of your case and what can be done to help you challenge the criminal DUI allegations that have been made against you. We are here to help in whatever way we can.