Atlanta DUI Lawyers

George C. Creal, Jr., P.C. is a law firm representing those charged with DUI or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  Our firm has advised thousands of DUI clients primarily in Metro Atlanta: including the City of Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth, Henry, Clayton, Fayette, Rockdale, Spalding and Coweta Counties. We know the Court system, the Judges, the Prosecutors and how they work. I was a staff attorney for a Superior Court Judge in Clayton County in 1993-1994.

DUI Georgia: Tough New Laws

The toughest DUI laws in Georgia history went into effect on July 1, 2009. These laws require jail time for all DUI convictions, increased look back for mandatory sentencing from five years to 10 years, felony treatment for a fourth DUI in ten years, license suspensions, twelve months of reporting probation, and extensive community service. Some Georgia DUI offenders will have all of their license plates confiscated and be required to perform 30 days or 240 hours of community service!

In your Georgia DUI, you will face two courts: a criminal court and a driver's license court. Further, if you do not request a hearing with in ten business days, your license will be suspended thirty days after your arrest for as much as five years in some cases, usually before you even go to court for your DUI.  

DUI Georgia: New Laws Make Legal Representation Essential

Georgia's Tough New DUI penalties make legal representation essential. If you do not contact us, please contact another attorney. Do not go to court unrepresented. If you can't afford to miss work for a year, you can't afford not to hire an experienced Atlanta DUI attorney.

Hire Experienced Metro Area Atlanta DUI Attorneys | DUI Georgia

We take all major credit cards and have payment plans for qualified applicants. We are an established law firm here to help you. We will not plead your case guilty unless you tell us you do not want a trial.  Call us at (770) 961-5511 for a free consultation, email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  or fax us a copy of your tickets or police report at (770) 961-5544.

Closing Argument Quotables

  "I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine, 1789. ME 7:408, Papers 15:269

  "A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect."  -Sir Walter Scott

Most Commonly Asked Question:
What do I do if I am arrested for DUI?

The short answer is - it depends.  Factors to consider are: jurisdiction of arrest, law enforcement agency of arrest, number of drinks.  Generalizations are a dangerous thing and there are exceptions. 

The basic rule of thumb in a DUI case is that a DUI with a "state administered" breath or blood test is harder to win at trial than a case without a test.  This is true simply because the "Legal Limit" is amorphous, constantly changing number.  In the 1980's, it was 0.12. In the 1990's, it was 0.10.  Since 1997, it has been 0.08. 

Drinking and Driving did not get more dangerous.  Rather, the DUI lobby got more powerful, the limit was tied to federal highway funds, and DUI bills are cheap political capital especially for "conservatives." So much for "State's Rights." No one sees them self as a potential DUI driver and certainly not the typical voter.  What is "DUI - less safe" is generally well above 0.08 and maybe as high 0.15.  I have had clients that could stand on one foot for more than 30 seconds well above .15 and they were clearly not "less safe" (or incapable of driving safely - the legal equivalent of "less safe") to drive. 

Some good ideas are:

1) Don't take the eye test commonly referred to as the HGN test.  It rarely helps you.

2) Speak in short, concise sentences, be clear, and speak only when absolutely necessary.  Remember you are probably being both filmed and recorded during the entire process.  No rambling diatribes or life stories.  If  you have alcohol on your breath you are probably going to jail regardless.  Start preparing for trial from the beginning.  The police are simply getting ready for trial.

3) If you can avoid it don't refuse the one leg stand and walk and turn.  It rarely looks innocent to refuse everything. Make the police look unreasonable. Try not to look unreasonable.  However, only do the fields evaluations if you have good balance generally, are athletic, and are not noticeably unbalanced from alcohol.  If you are really drunk, don't try the tests.  You can not pass field evaluations. Field evaluations are measured in degrees of failure.

4) You can take the small hand held breath test offered before arrest.  It is not admissible as a numerical result only positive or negative for alcohol. You have probably admitted drinking anyway.  Many police will let you go if you blow under 0.08 legal limt on the handheld, pre-arrest breath test.

5) Ask lot of questions: Why do you want me to take field evaluations if I promise not to drive anymore, you must have a reasonable doubt?  What happens if I below under the legal limit? Will you let me go? Am I going to jail?  Can I speak with a lawyer? What happens if I refuse the test?  Can I have an additional blood test and breath test from my own doctor?

6) Don't blow into the post arrest, cash register sized breath machine or give blood at the hospital, jail, police station or DUI Recreational Vehicle if you want to win your DUI at trial.  However, you may lose your license for a year if you refuse.  It is not automatic if you request a hearing within ten days of your arrest.  If this is your 2nd DUI in ten years or you are under 21 years of age, or the officer is accusing you of driving under legal or illegal drugs always refuse.

7) Don't tell the police about all the prescription medication your are taking.  Prescription pills can equal  a DUI.  It is no defense that you are following doctors orders.

8) Call a DUI lawyer immediately.  Beware of attorney's quoting low fees.  Low fees mean pleas.  Attorneys charge by the hour.  Less money equals less time.  We handle a large volume of DUIs and take advantage of economies of scale to offer top quality legal representation at a reasonable price.  We think justice should be affordable and offer payment plans to those without access to capital but with a job and established credit.

Georgia DUI Myths: 

Myth: Driving at 0.08 is dangerous or a driver is impaired.

Fact: A University of Utah study found that drivers talking on cell phones with and without earbuds were more dangerous than drivers who had consumed enough alcohol to be in excess of the 0.08 legal blood alcohol limit for most states.  See blog link  Strayer, D. Human Factors, Summer 2006; vol 48: pp 381-391. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: “DUI/DWI Laws.” News release, University of Utah. 

Fact: Mouthwash or breath spray is the worst thing you can do when faced with a DUI.  Both mouthwash and breath spray will artificially inflate alcohol breath tests.

Myth: Sucking on pennies will fool a dui breath machine.

Fact: Pennies have no effect on alcohol breath test results.  

Myth: “Alcohol on the breath” is a reliable sign of alcohol consumption and intoxication.

Fact: Alcohol is odorless. The smell of alcoholic beverages is not alcohol on the breath but is actually the odor of the things in or ingredients of the alcoholic beverages. Non-alcoholic beer like Odouls will produce the same smell the as drinking a regular beer. Georgia law even recognizes that a mere odor of alcohol is not enough to convict someone of DUI.

Myth: A Breath test will clear diabetics who exhibit characteristics of alcohol impairment like slurred speech, confusion, stumbling, sleepiness, uncoordinated behavior and red face cause them to fail field sobriety tests.

Fact: Diabetics frequently have acetone in their breath, which Breath Test Machines can confuse with alcohol in the blood stream.

Myth: Field sobriety evaluations are validated by the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, and accurately identify drunk drivers.

Fact: The three standardized test the HGN(eye jerking test), Walk and Turn and One Leg Stand are 77%, 65% AND 68% when performed under ideal conditions with those under 65 years of age, with no back, leg, knee, ankle or inner ear conditions on a flat, level, dry, debris free surface in heels less than two inches.  On the side of a highway at night with strobe lights flashing sometimes in the shivering cold, these conditions are rarely met.  Further, Police Officers rarely perform these test as they are trained.  The results are stupid people tricks as opposed to field sobriety evaluations.

Myth: Alcohol breath test machines are accurate.

Fact: There are many sources of error in breath tests. Mouth alcohol, acetone, radio frequency interference, certain solvents and chemicals, mouth wash, asthma inhalers which contain albuterol suspended in ethanol or alcohol vapor. Even in the absence of any of these common problems and under ideal conditions, alcohol breath testers simply lack precision. The Georgia Intox. 5000 breath testing manual states that breath testing has inherent sample variability of 0.01 for one sample and 0.02 for two samples.

This means that under ideal conditions, which is a highly unlikely situation, a breath alcohol reading of .08 reflects an actual blood alcohol reading of anywhere from .06 to .1. That is a margin of error of 25 percent of the legal limit. At the under 21 level of .02 the error rating is 100%!

Myth: A person accused of DUI by breath test is presumed innocent.  The presumption of innocence guaranteed by the both the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions.

Fact: Although the presumption of innocence is guaranteed by law, it is denied in fact with a state administered breath test.  The breath test is presumed accurate and you have to prove it doesn’t work by hiring an expert to debunk the test or having an extremely effective cross examination by an experienced DUI lawyer using the Officer's own training materials.

Myth: Law enforcement officers can’t influence the BAC reading of a breath-testing machine.

Fact: Law enforcement officers can and do influence BAC readings. The first part of lung air, after discarding the dead space, has an alcohol concentration much lower than the equivalent Blood Alcohol Content. Whereas, the last part of lung air has an alcohol concentration that is much higher than the equivalent Blood Alcohol Content. The last part of the breath can be over 50% above the alcohol level. Thus, a breath test reading of 0.14% taken from the last part of the breath may indicate that the blood level is only 0.09%." Thus, police often yell at drivers “Blow, Blow, Blow, Blow” much longer and deeper than is necessary for the machine to inflate the result.

Myth: Alcohol breath testers measure the concentration of alcohol in a person’s blood stream (blood alcohol concentration or BAC).

Fact: Alcohol breath machines don’t actually measure blood alcohol content, which can only be achieved with a blood test. They attempt to measure alcohol in the breath in order to estimate the concentration of alcohol in the blood. As a result not all states permit alcohol breath test.  Alcohol breath machines detect any chemical compounds that contain the methyl group in its molecular structure. There are thousands of such compounds such as gasoline, glue, acetone, asthma inhalers, paint, paint remover, “new car smell,” celluloid, cleaning fluids, etc.

Breath Machines also assume as constants certain ratios within the human body that actually vary widely from person to person and within the same person over time. For example, many breath-testing machines assume a 2,100-to-1 ratio in converting alcohol in the breath to estimates of alcohol in the blood. However, this ratio varies from 1,900 to 2,400 among people and also within a person over time. Some breath analysis machines assume a hematocrit (blood cells as a percent of blood volume) of 47%.  By comparison, Lance Armstrong may have a hemocrit level of 47-49%, but anything over 50% is considering blood doping and would result in a two year ban from professional cycling llike the Tour de France or Tour de Georgia.  However, hematocrit values range from 42 to 49% in men and from 37 to 47% in women. These machines appear to discriminate against female suspects. These machines assume a body mass of an average male and do not account for individuals with higher body fat.  The machines assume an average body temperature.  Can you say junk science?