James “Skip” Sullivan represented a client in a Gwinnett County roadblock case where the client was speeding up to the roadblock and cut off another driver before stopping at the Gwinnett DUI roadblock. The roadblock was set up by Gwinnett DUI task force officers (the only officers that have video in their patrol cars). For reasons not credible, the Gwinnett DUI task force officers elected not to use their videos during this roadblock, nor during the transport of our client to the Gwinnett County Jail. The Gwinnett DUI task force officer that conducted a DUI investigation claimed that our client had very sleepy, droopy, bloodshot eyes, and that his speech was heavily slurred. The Gwinnett DUI officer also claimed that our client was unsteady on his feet. His breath test results were .082, .077. Even though the Gwinnett police decided not to use video, our client had a dash camera that we played during trial. Although the video showed our client cutting off another driver and coming up to the roadblock fast, he looked fine, no droopy/sleepy eyes, and was steady on his feet for the brief time he was on camera. His speech was also not slurred. The prosecution offered a reckless driving offer before trial, but our client rejected. The jury found our client not guilty of DUI and not guilty for cutting off the other driver. The prosecution elected not to charge our client with speeding.
