Client stopped for driving on the wrong side of the road and failing to maintain his lane in DeKalb County. Officer noted that client smelled like alcohol, had slow speech and bloodshot and glassy eyes, but that since his patrol car did not have a video camera, there was no video from client’s traffic stop. Client could not perform the Walk and Turn or the One Leg Stand field sobriety evaluations due to a military injury to his leg and ankle. The State refused to dismiss the DUI charges, so we started a jury trial. After the State put up its evidence, we informed the Court that we were intending to play a video from the jail which showed that the State had violated the 20 minute observation period required before a breath test. The State failed to notice this problem with their case until we pointed it out to them during trial! The State then agreed to dismiss the DUI counts and client entered a plea to Reckless Driving.
