Drunk Driving Cases Handled by DUI Attorney William C. Head

Case 10
State v. W.B.F
Doraville Municipal Court
Doraville, Georgia

Defendant, charged with DUI and improper lane usage, was facing a possible third DUI in five years, with substantial jail time to boot. He had been arguing with his girlfriend inside the pickup truck and made a looping exit off I-285 Westbound onto Buford Highway, struck the opposite curb (after crossing eight lanes of Buford Highway) and then proceeded back up the opposite eastbound I-285 ramp when he was pulled over by a Doraville officer. The officer had witnessed this entire driving excursion.

The officer found two cases of beer in the truck, plus obtained an admission from Defendant that they had just left a nightclub. Defendant was given an Alco-sensor test and the HGN test, but no other field evaluations due to the dangerous highway position at the gore of I-285 eastbound and the Buford Highway ramp.

Just prior to a bench trial (an option selected because the local judge generally gave 1/10th the amount of jail time as the State Court judges, if we sought transfer of the case for a jury trial), pre-trial motions resulted in exclusion of evidence of refusal of the state-administered test, due to defective implied consent advisements. Defendant also sought to exclude the Alco-sensor, due to lack of a proper foundation (Turrentine v. State, 176 Ga. App. 145). This motion was granted.

As evidence proceeded by the State, a defense challenge was made to the officer's training on how to give an HGN test. Upon completion of a short voir dire about his FST training, the State went forward with its evidence, which was, basically, the smell of alcohol, errant driving, beer in the back seat and Defendant admitting that he had come from a nightclub. The officer never explained what HGN proved, only saying that he gave the test. The trial lasted less than 25 minutes.

Defendant was acquitted of DUI by the judge.

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