Client arrested for DUI in Cobb County with her three-year-old child in the car, resulting in the additional charge of DUI-Child Endangerment. The arrest unfortunately even made the nightly news on a local TV channel. After a thorough investigation, it appeared that the evidence of the Cobb County DUI consisted primarily of the opinion of the clerk of a convenience store (and of course the opinion of the police officers who came to the scene). There was no evidence of impaired driving, and the client declined roadside field sobriety testing, as well as a breath test. Attorney Bob Chestney was able to convince the prosecutor that the DUI charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, so those charges were dismissed upon a plea of guilty to Reckless Conduct and Failure to Have Child Properly Restrained.
Tagged: Bob Chestney
DeKalb County Accident – DUI Dropped
Client ran off the road, swerved back onto the road and collided with a wrecker. His sister suffered a pretty bad injury, and he was also taken to the hospital. A blood test revealed a BAC of .091. Bob Chestney filed a motion to suppress the blood test results on several legal grounds, and a hearing was conducted. At that hearing, Mr. Chestney was able to demonstrate on cross-examination that the nurse who testified that she drew our client’s blood had no recollection of doing so, had seen no records indicating she was the blood drawer, and didn’t even know if she was working that night. She testified that she drew the blood merely because the prosecutor told her so.
The judge threw out the test results, and the State offered to drop the DeKalb County DUI accident charge in return for a plea to the Reckless Driving charge.
Milton DUI Dismissed (Right to Speedy Trial Violated)
Client was charged with an improper turn and DUI in Milton back in June 2013. Due to the sensitive nature of this charge as it might affect his executive position at a national company, Bob Chestney attempted to resolve the case as quickly as possible – he asked for a bench trial in Milton Municipal Court. But prior to the trial date, the prosecutor had the case sent down to the State Court of Fulton County over our objection. This added an entirely unnecessary delay of almost 24 months to the process, during which time our client endured the extreme anxiety of these charges possibly causing him professional embarrassment or worse. Having earnestly sought a speedy trial and been denied, our client’s constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated, and his Milton DUI case was properly dismissed.
Roswell DUI (Breath Test .120) – Dismissed in Fulton County
Client was stopped at 4:00 am by Roswell Police Off. Ott – who is a highly trained and experienced DUI cop – for failing to maintain her lane. Video showed over three minutes of driving before being stopped, and she hit or crossed over the lines 4-5 times, but always on the inside line of a curve. Mr. Chestney argued that this was normal driving, and was “as nearly as practicable within a single lane” as the statute requires. Judge Porter agreed, and granted a motion to exclude all evidence gathered from the traffic stop. The state chose to dismiss rather than appeal her decision.