Cobb County, GA, located in Northwest Georgia, has some of the highest DUI arrest rates in the State. This is the adjacent county directly northwest of Fulton County and the state capital city of Atlanta GA and has over 700,000 residents.
The statistic for a higher number of arrests is not just in the total number of DUI arrests but in drunk driving arrests per number of citizens. In fact, their overly aggressive DUI task force officers have made national news in some DUI cases where their officer felt like he was the ultimate authority for identifying a DUI-drugs suspect.
The Cobb County Police Department aggressively patrols the major roads and highways that run through unincorporated Cobb County, including I-75, I-575, I-285, South Cobb Drive, Hwy 41, Cobb Parkway, the East-West Connector, and the 120 Loop. Continue reading to learn how to beat a Cobb County DUI.
DUI Attorneys in Cobb County, GA
If you were arrested in Cobb County for driving impaired in the last 48 hours, you currently may feel that the State of GA has a solid case against you and that you have zero chance of fighting for your innocence. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Many of our former clients who thought their situation was hopeless made the crucial decision to retain us and fight it out to the end. We know how to beat a DUI in Cobb County.
Please realize that more than 85% of Georgia DUI cases never go to trial. This means that the State’s DUI conviction rate is over 85% as well. In Cobb County, as in all 159 Georgia counties, the local court system is overwhelmed with new impaired driving cases. It would be physically impossible to bring all defendants to trial. Cobb County prosecutors and judges are charged with keeping the court calendar moving along while also protecting Cobb County citizens from drunk drivers. It is a tough job, with public scrutiny at a high level.
The prosecutor’s office does a thorough job on each new case and comes to court fully prepared to obtain a conviction. That is why our veteran criminal defense attorneys must be equally prepared to challenge the State’s evidence at every turn and must know the specific Georgia DUI laws that apply in your case. Case law changes all the time, and your attorney will quote previously-decided court decisions in an unrelenting effort to protect your freedom.
Our Cobb County DUI attorneys do not advise their clients to meekly walk into the first court appearance and plead guilty to drunk driving. An arrest is not a conviction – not by a long shot.
Find A Cobb County DUI Lawyer Today
A veteran Cobb County DUI lawyer is in Cobb County State Court almost every day, defending clients against serious Georgia drunk driving charges. Most of our clients had the misfortune of spending at least one night in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center. After their traumatic driving impaired arrest, they were booked into the Cobb County Jail, changed into an orange jumpsuit and sandals, and marched off to a shared cell. This is not how they had planned to spend their night. Their first priority was to tell someone in the outside world that they were in jail, and to get out of there as quickly as possible.
When you get back home, one of the first calls you make should be to a top DUI lawyer in Cobb County who will listen to everything that happened and will begin to build a solid DUI defense tailored for your specific circumstances. We know how to beat a Cobb County DUI.
The current Cobb County Solicitor General is Barry Morgan, who has a team of assistant prosecutors assigned to misdemeanor DUI and felony DUI cases. Immediately after your drunk driving arrest, the prosecutor’s office begins to receive all the police evidence gathered in your case. This evidence includes DUI breath test results, DUI blood test results if a blood test was ordered, and the police video that captured all events from the initial pullover to your performance on the field sobriety tests.
Georgia ALS 10 Day Warning!
In a drunk driving or drugged driving case, the Georgia 10-Day Rule applies. This means the GA Department of Driver Services (DDS) will begin an Automatic License Suspension, or ALS, against you immediately. If you fail to file a timely appeal, the DDS may suspend your driver’s license for up to 12 months before your criminal case gets started. We can stop this license suspension by filing a letter of appeal within 10 business days of your arrest. The cost to file an appeal is a $150 filing fee. This fee is mandated and set by the State, and all Cobb County law firms will pass along the same fee amount. Call us at 1-888-839-4384 to stop this ALS process immediately. You will need a valid GA driver’s license to legally drive and get to your court dates more easily.
You should immediately begin working with a top-rated Cobb County DUI lawyer to start fighting against your DUI and related traffic offenses. You want to keep your Georgia driver’s license valid and continue to drive to work and school.
If you cannot legally drive for 12 months, it will be even more difficult to get to your court dates. And MARTA does not have bus service in Cobb County, but you can use a Cobb Community Transit (CCT) bus to get there. Take Bus 45 from the Marietta Transfer Center.
When is my first court date?
Your first appearance in State Court of Cobb County is called a DUI arraignment, but you DO NOT have to appear in person. A lawyer from our firm will appear for you and enter a plea of not guilty. Before this initial hearing, your lawyer will talk over the types of pleas you can enter. We advise all of our clients to plead “not guilty” so we can begin to challenge the State’s evidence against you. While he is in the court building that day, your attorney will file pre-trial motions to obtain copies of your breath test results, your blood test results, and any other chemical tests the police ordered.
Your attorney will also request to get a copy of your arrest video so he can watch it and discover any police errors made during your arrest.
A veteran Cobb County DUI attorney can make the difference between a damaging Georgia DUI conviction on your permanent criminal record, and a reduction to a lesser traffic offense or an outright acquittal of all charges. The best Georgia DUI attorneys have decades of successful drunk driving defense experience, including extensive trial lawyer experience in Cobb County State Court. This courthouse is located off Historic Marietta Square. The address is 12 E. Park Square, Marietta, GA 30009. The phone number is (770) 528-1200.
Seeking a Reduction of the DUI To a Less Serious Offense
If no reduction is officered in the initial municipal court case, your DUI lawyer GA can “bind over” the case, for a jury trial at the Cobb County State Court.
It is rare but not impossible to get a drunk driving charge dismissed or reduced to reckless driving. Over 92% of all people arrested for DUI in Cobb County are convicted. This is mainly because almost every defendant either pleads guilty at their first arraignment or hires an attorney who advises them to plead guilty and “accept the consequences.”
For Repeat Offenders, the Cobb County DUI Court Will Be Offered
Due to the more strident and aggressive prosecutions in Cobb County, some attorneys in Atlanta will not take cases in the Cobb County courts. Our three-partner law office prefers cases in this county, due to the orderly and highly regimented court system, that keeps cases “on track.”
Have Patience As Your Case Winds Through Cobb County State Court
A thoroughly defended driving under the influence case can take up to 2 years to be resolved. From your first arraignment to the final plea, there are many steps to the process.
Your attorney spends a lot of time reviewing all your case details in a relentless effort to uncover arrest errors or other favorable facts that can lead to a reduction in charges or even an outright acquittal. Remember, you are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The most successful DUI defenses unfold over many months, and the defense strategies change because of rulings made by the judge on pre-trial motions. And the courts operate on their own time schedule, with delays and continuances a daily occurrence. If you have ever faced charges in a criminal court, you know that many trials are scheduled in any given week. To you and to your attorney, your driving impaired case is the most important one.
But to a Cobb County prosecution team, your case is one of the hundreds that pass through their office, so trying to schedule a backlog of proceedings is a delicate task. Have patience with the process and you will stand a much better chance of winning.
A Cobb County DUI Conviction Follows You For Life
You do not want to be found guilty in the State Court of Cobb County of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The initial costs that are shown above barely scratch the surface. Think about how your future job prospects and income can be curtailed, how much more you will pay for car insurance, and what if the college you want to get into denies you admission because of a criminal conviction?
A DUI in Cobb County, Georgia will weigh on you financially, physically, and mentally. You may have to hide this “secret” and feel constant guilt and shame. It does not have to be this way. Our criminal law attorneys are here to stop this nightmare from ever happening.
Almost every day of the week one of our Cobb County DUI attorneys appears in Cobb County Superior Court to continue to fight for a client’s freedom. Some of our clients sit in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on County Services Parkway in Marietta, awaiting their release. This facility is probably the one you spent the night in after your arrest.
One night in this Cobb County jail is enough for any Georgia citizen. Can you imagine spending weeks or months surrounded by 50 inmates facing convictions for violent crimes like aggravated battery? Call us now at 1-888-839-4384 and our DUI attorneys in Georgia will tell you how to take back control and resume a normal, law-abiding life.
Cobb County DUI Attorney Qualifications
As you do an internet search for the best DUI attorneys, pay close attention to each candidate’s impaired driving case experience, industry ratings, and client reviews. You want to find a criminal attorney who specializes in DUI defense and not one who only dabbles in this highly specialized field of criminal law. Drunk driving charges are by far the most common criminal charges that Georgians face. Remember, it is not illegal to drink and drive. But it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle and be intoxicated to the point where your blood alcohol content, or BAC, is at or above 0.08%.
As you read through an attorney’s website, look for stellar industry ratings from AVVO and Martindale-Hubbell. Criminal attorneys are rated by these companies each year, and a score of “9” or higher indicates a high level of professionalism and positive client reviews. Typically an attorney’s website will display rating badges from these professional review services.
Also read through as many client reviews as you can. Of course, you will only see positive reviews, but they will give you a feel for the attorney’s reputation and prior success in court.
Ask the attorney as many questions as you want. One of the crucial questions to ask is how many DUI cases the defense attorney has defended at trial, either by a jury or by a judge. A trial where a judge decides your guilt or innocence is called a bench trial. Your attorney will recommend a bench trial over a jury trial when the facts of your case are more technical, and can more easily be argued in front of someone with a legal background.
Why hire a Cobb County DUI lawyer who tells you to just “plead out?”
Quite frankly, you do not need a DUI lawyer in Marietta GA if you’re going to plead guilty anyway. Use the money you would have paid for legal fees and put it towards court fines, DUI class tuition, and probation costs — all coming your way if you “give in” from day 1.
You should immediately begin working with a top-rated Cobb County DUI lawyer to start fighting against your DUI and related traffic offenses. Pictured above is our senior partner, William “Bubba” Head, the ABA Board-Certified DUI lawyer near me known for authoring the leading treatise on Georgia DUI laws.
You want to keep your Georgia driver’s license valid and continue to drive to work and school. If you cannot legally drive for 12 months, it will be even more difficult to get to your court dates. MARTA does not have a bus service in Cobb County, but you can use a Cobb Community Transit (CCT) bus to get there. Take Bus 45 from the Marietta Transfer Center.
A Cobb County DUI Lawyer Handles Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Mableton, Marietta, Powder Springs, and Smyrna Cases
Our veteran Cobb County DUI lawyers successfully defend against the following criminal charges: Marietta DUI, Acworth DUI, Kennesaw DUI, Austell DUI, Powder Springs, Smyrna DUI and Mableton DUI. We have won many difficult DUI cases in Cobb County State Court and Cobb County Superior Court, and no police evidence is too damaging to overcome.
If you had a very high blood alcohol content, or BAC, on the breath test machine, if you failed the field sobriety tests miserably, and even if injuries or death occurred, do not despair. One of our veteran Georgia criminal lawyers will talk to you about your pending charges, and will defend you at every court appearance and attack the prosecutor’s case.
Contact us around the clock at 1-888-839-4384 and get a FREE PDF copy of our 430-page “The DUI Book: A Citizen’s Guide to Understanding DUI – DWI Litigation in America (National Edition)”.
Copyright 2016, by Cobb County, GA DUI lawyer William C. Head. Author of many books on DUI law for over 25 years.