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Marietta DUI Lawyers

  1. Jaime Wingler:

    Frequent Questions

    Do I need a 10 day letter?

    1. If you refused to summit to the state-administered chemical test, you need to send a ten day letter requesting an administrative license suspension hearing.
    2. If you are over 21 and submitted to a state-administered chemical test and the test result was .020 grams or more, you need to send a ten day letter requesting an administrative license suspension hearing.
    3. If you are under 21 and submitted to a state-administered chemical test and the test result was .020 grams or more, you need to send a ten day letter requesting an administrative license suspension hearing.
    4. If you are a commercial truck driver and your test results was .040 grams or more, you need to send a ten day letter requesting an administrative license suspension hearing.

    Why do I need an administrative license suspension hearing?

    Your DUI Case may take months or even years before it is resolved. Requesting an administrative license suspension hearing is your best chance of retaining your driver's license, pending the outcome of the criminal portion of your case.

    If I refused the state-administered chemical test, how does that affect my driver's license?

    If your driver's license is administratively suspended for refusing to submit to state-administered chemical testing, the driver's license is for one year with no permit to drive whatsoever. Once, that suspension goes into effect, there are two ways to lift it: (1) administrative appeal or (2) the criminal case is resolved by a disposition other than DUI.

    What are the criminal punishments for a DUI case?

    DUI in Georgia is a misdemeanor offense. Misdemeanor offenses carry a maximum punishment of 12 months incarceration and $1,000. fine.

    First Offense:

    For the first DUI offense within five years the mandatory minimum punishment that the court may impose if you plead guilty or are found guilty after trial is:

    1. 12 months probation
    2. 10 days incarceration (which may be reduced to 24 hours by the judge)
    3. 40 hours of community service
    4. DUI Risk Reduction Program
    5. $300 fine
    6. 1 year driver's license suspended (early reinstatement is possible in some cases)

    Second Offense:

    For the second offense within a five year period:

    1. 12 months probation
    2. 90 days incarceration (which may be reduced to 72 hours by the judge)
    3. 240 hors community service
    4. DUI Risk Reduction Program
    5. Clinical Evaluation and Treatment for substance abuse
    6. $600 fine
    7. 3 years driver's license suspension (early reinstatement possible after 1 year)

    Third Offense:

    A third offense within a 5 year period is a high and aggravated misdemeanor and carries mandatory minimum punishment of:

    1. 12 months probation
    2. 120 days incarceration (which may be reduced to 15 days in judge's discretion)
    3. 240 hours community service
    4. DUI Risk reduction Program
    5. Clinical Evaluation and Treatment for Substance abuse
    6. $1,000-$5,000 fine
    7. 5 year license suspension (probationary license possible after 2 years)
  2. Alavi & Accociates: Federal Crimes State Crime Civil Litigation White Collar Crime Tax Cases Corporate Crime Family Law DUI Insurance Cases Breach of Contract Real Estate Law Civil Service Child Pornography
  3. Abbott Law Firm: TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS Speeding Improper Lane Change Driving without a License Driving with Suspended License Driving with No Insurance/No Proof of Insurance Reckless Driving Hit and Run (Failure to Stop) Fleeing and Eluding Racing MISDEMEANORS DUI/DWI Shoplifting Possession of Marijuana (less than one ounce) Simple Assault Simple Battery Family Violence Battery Cruelty to Children Obstruction of Officer Criminal Trespass FELONIES Drug Charges Possession of Marijuana (more than one ounce) Possession of Cocaine Possession of Methamphetamine Trafficking Possession with Intent to Distribute Armed Robbery Burglary Robbery Aggravated Assault Terroristic Threats Financial Identity Fraud Forgery Theft by Taking Theft by Receiving Stalking/Aggravated Stalking
  4. Paisley, James: traffic and criminal defense law DUI/DWI arrests in Georgia are serious. DUI is a criminal offense and misdemeanor. You do not want to plead guilty and pay the fine just to end the ordeal. This is the same as a conviction and will stay on your record.
  5. Leonard, Robb: Could your blood inflate your blood alcohol level? July 29th, 2007 Rob Leonard Posted in Blood Test No Comments È Your hematocrit level is the ratio of aqueous portions and solid portions of your blood. When alcohol enters your bloodstream it is carried in the plasma (liquid portion). Alcohol does not get absorbed into the red blood cells and other solid material in your blood Someone with a higher hematocrit level will have more solid parts in their blood and therefore will have less space for the alcohol to disperse in the liquid portion of the blood. Normal hematocrit differences can elevate a BAC by 10% to 14%. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Blood Tests: Potential Problems October 11th, 2006 Allen Trapp Posted in Blood Test, Chemical Test No Comments È Blood drawn for a forensic blood test will in almost all cases be taken from the suspect via a vacutainer, which should contain two substances -sodium flouride, a preservative, and potassium oxalate, an anticoagulent. Further, they are vacuum sealed, which explains why they are called vacutainers . Most vacutainers in use are made by Becton Dickinson. They also have an expiration date, after which the vacuum seal is no longer warrantied. BUT, very few phlebotomists, police officers, or state crime lab personnel pay any attention to the expiration date. Simply stated, nobody checks. Becton Dickinson only checks one out of every four thousand vials for quality control. There are at least three possible defects in the stateÕs blood test: 1. A bad seal on the vacutainer, which is impossible to detect after the test, because it has been opened. 2. Improper amount of sodium flouride in the vial. Since vials are routinely nor refrigerated prior to their delivery to the crime lab, the proper amount of sodium flouride is critical. Either too much or too little can lead to a false high test result and 3. Improper amount of potassium oxalate. In the case of a bad seal organisms from the environment, such as candida albicans, can get in. Unless there is enough sodium flouride in the vial, the organisms that may be in your clientÕs blood will grow. One such organism is the ubiquitous candida albicans, which is is a yeastlike organism that is resistant to sodium floride. In the presence of glucose and warmth, it will excrete ethanol via fermentation. Too much sodium flouride may cause Òsalting outÓ, which will also lead to a false high test result with headspace gas chromatography. This can occur even if there is no problem with the vacutainer, but the phlebotomist draws too little blood. If there is not enough potassium oxalate, the blood can coagulate or Òmicro-coagulateÓ which is almost completly undectable. Because this changes the ratio of liquid to solid in the substance that is tested, and ethanol is water soluble, it can lead to a false high test result. It can be virtually guaranteed that in any case involving a blood test the lab did not test for the presence of Candida Albicans, the lab did not check the vial seal, and the lab did not check the amount of sodium flouride or potassium oxalate in the tube. If any of these occurred, you will in all likelihood have a false high blood alcohol concentration reported by the lab. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Blood and Urine tests for Methamphetamine August 11th, 2006 Allen Trapp Posted in Urine Test, Blood Test, Chemical Test No Comments È If a person has taken methamphetamine, that individual should also have its metabolite amphetamine in their system. In other words, levels of both methamphetamine and amphetamine should be detected in both the blood and urine. Some GC/MS assays can falsely yield positive methamphetamine levels when high concentrations of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are present in the specimen. Depending on the temperature of the injection port, the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine can be converted (or cooked) to methamphetamine. Therefore, sound scientific practice requires a negative report for methamphetamine if only methamphetamine is found in blood or urine. The absence of amphetamine means that the person had not consumed methamphetamine, which would in the ordinary course of metabolism would produce amphetamine. Therefore, in a case where only methamphetamine is found in the blood or urine the person probably had a cold and taken cold medicine containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Blood Tests: Why a Hospital Test is Suspect. August 4th, 2006 Allen Trapp Posted in Blood Test, Chemical Test No Comments È Hospital laboratory testing of serum alcohol involves use of the enzymatic method. The enzyme kits do not measure alcohol directly. They oxidize alcohol to acetaldehyde by the reduction of NAD+ to NADH. The amount of NADH produced is therefore a function of the amount of alcohol present in the sample, and the amount of NADH produced is measured via a color reaction. However, if the blood also contains high levels of lactate (lactic acid) from either the administration of RingerÕs Lactate or the release of lactate from damaged tissues and also high levels of LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) enzyme from damaged tissues, then it is possible that the NAD+ from the enzyme kits will also oxidize of lactate to pyruvate, thereby also producing NADH which would appear as ÒalcoholÓ in the test results. Therefore, it may be possible to have falsely high alcohol test results from serum alcohol tests using these hospital enzyme kits if both lactate and LDH are in high concentrations in the blood. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Blood Tests: The Differences Between Whole Blood, Serum, and Plasma August 4th, 2006 Allen Trapp Posted in Blood Test No Comments È å å å å If there is no anti-clotting agent in a tube used to collect blood, the blood will clot (due to the presence of fibrinogen in the blood).å Upon centrifugation of the tube, the clear yellow liquid at the top is called serum and contains little or no fibrinogen because the fibrinogen has been used up in the clotting of the blood cells.å A sample of the serum can then be removed for analysis of its serum alcohol concentration. å å å å If there is an anti-clotting agent in the tube, the blood should not clot if properly mixed (tube inverted a few times).å The tube can then be either shaken and a sample of the whole blood can be then be removed for analysis of its blood alcohol concentration, or the tube can be centrifuged.å Upon centrifugation of the tube, the clear yellow liquid at the top is call plasma and contains about 0.34 grams of fibrinogen per 100 mL of plasma.å A sample of the plasma can then be removed for analysis of its plasma alcohol concentration. å å å å Because serum and plasma only differ by the absence or the presence of a trace amount of the fibrinogen protein, the serum alcohol concentration and the plasma alcohol concentration should be essentially identical.å However, due to their higher water content than whole blood, the alcohol concentration in either serum or plasma should be about 18% greater than the actual whole blood alcohol concentration. å å å å No lab would try to measure the alcohol concentration in a blood clot which, because of its relatively low water content, would theoretically be relatively low in alcohol concentration compared to the whole blood alcohol concentration.


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