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Wallace v State – Yes or No Georgia DUI Implied Consent can be used against you

Wallace v. State, A13A0942, PH-035C., Court of Appeals of Georgia, Decided: November 22, 2013.  Willam Glynn Wallace was arrested for DUI.  The arresting officer read Wallace Georgia Implied Consent. Wallace refused a breath test.  Wallace then asked the arresting officer what would happen if he said yes to the test and could it be used against him. The Officer said yes or no it could not be used against him.  The Georgia Court of Appeals found that the refusal of a breath test under Implied Consent could be used against the Defendant, and the Officer’s statement was a substantial deviation from Implied Consent rights.  See State v. Peirce, 257 Ga. App. 623, 625 (1) (571 SE2d 826) (2002) (“Where the consent was based at least in part on deceptively misleading information concerning a penalty for refusal which the state was not authorized to implement, there was no informed choice and the test results are inadmissible.”)  The judgment was reversed and the breath test was suppressed.

-Author: George C. Creal, Jr.

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