New Georgia protections to guard against eye witness misidentification in lineups and showups
O.C.G.A. 17-20-1, 17-20-2 and 17-20-3 went into effect on July 1st, 2016 to ensure fairer and more balanced procedures for eyewitness live lineups, photo lineups and show ups. These new procedures were created to help reduce wrongful convictions due to faulty eye witness identification in court. Memory is fabricated and not real. Recency has the potential to […]
Read MoreJudges can not control jail good time credit
In Davis v. State, 181 Ga. App. 498, 353 SE2d 7 (1987), a trial judge attempted to prevent the sheriff from giving a DUI defendant good time credit on a 12-month jail term with no probation until his $1000 fine was paid. The Judge knew that with no probation there was no way to enforce […]
Read MoreGSP to crack down on DUIs after Georgia-Tennessee Game
On September 29, 2016, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Georgia State Patrol is planning on increased DUI enforcement including saturation patrols and roadblocks after the Georgia vs. Tennessee Game in Athens, Georgia. The Nighthawks Taskforce is a highly specialized unit of the Georgia State Patrol with a DUI Police Specialist. We have been fighting the […]
Read MoreMedical Records are admissible without a witness in a Georgia DUI
On February 16, 2016, in Samuels v. State, 335 Ga. App. 819, 783 SE2d 344 (2016), the Georgia Court of Appeals medical records may be admitted into evidence without a testifying witness including diagnoses and medical opinions as business records under OCGA 24-8-803(6) if presented as Declarations under OCGA 24-9-902(11). The Court began its analysis by looking at OCGA […]
Read MoreState v Tittle – Exercising your Constitutional Rights equals Guilty Knowledge
On February 5, 2016, the Georgia Court of Appeals issued its opinion in State v. Tittle, 335 Ga. App. 558, 782 SE2d 487 (2016). In what has become just another DUI “Other Acts” f/k/a “Similar Transactions” case where a Defendant who refused to take a DUI breath test had the State offer evidence of a prior […]
Read MoreSpoone v. State – Mother consented to warrantless entry in son’s DUI investigation
In Spoone v State, 335 Ga. App. 816, 783 SE2d 342 (2016), the Georgia Court of Appeals found that a mother gave consent for police to make a warrantless entry into her house to investigate her adult son who lived in her basement after police followed a liquid trail of leaking automobile fluids to the house […]
Read MoreState v. Williams -Georgia Court of Appeals breakdown on actual consent for DUI testing
On March 27, 2015, In Williams v. State, 296 Ga. 817, 771 SE2d 373 (2015), the Georgia Supreme Court broke the mold on DUI blood, breath, and urine test cases finding in short that the state must provide not just that Georgia Implied Consent Rights had been read but that there was actual consent to search […]
Read MoreGeorgia 2nd Toughest State on DUI behind only Arizona
August 10, 2016. WTVM.com in Columbus Georgia reports a just-released report by wallethub.com that Georgia ranks 2nd in the nation for the toughest DUI conviction penalties. The rankings were based on minimum jail time for 1st and 2nd offenders, aggravation of punishment based on a 10 year look back, license suspension, and fine amounts. This […]
Read MoreSpencer v State- HGN-4 of 6 clues indicates over DUI legal limit
In Spencer v. State, A16A0118, June 9, 2016, the Georgia Court of Appeals concluded in a less safe DUI case that a DUI Police Officer’s testimony at trial that “four out of six clues generally indicates a blood alcohol level equal to or greater than .08.” The Court distinguished Bravo v. State, 304 Ga. App. 243, 247-248, […]
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