Experienced Defense Against DUI & Alcohol Offenses in Georgia

DUI and other alcohol offense charges can have a serious impact on your life, your rights and your driving privileges. Marietta criminal defense attorneys Maddox Kilgore and Carlos Rodriguez have a proven track record of success in successfully defending Georgia DUI cases. Our firm’s priority in DUI cases is always the same: get the evidence excluded, get the case dismissed or reduced, win at trial, and keep our clients driving and out of jail. 

Our first approach is to have the evidence of consumption and/or impairment suppressed or excluded by finding where police may have violated a client’s constitutional rights in the way their person or property was searched, or in how the blood or breath sample was seized. Then, we explore any other factual defense available.

Evidence of alcohol or drug consumption can be thrown out if the way it was discovered

and seized violated a defendant’s Fourth Amendment Constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure. If the police arrest you for DUI without probable cause, the blood,

breath, or urine sample obtained after the arrest is inadmissible in court. No evidence = not guilty.

Investigating and attacking any legal defense is the mark of an experienced trial lawyer.

This includes challenging the sufficiency and timing of implied consent notice. The Implied Consent Statute means that if someone is driving on Georgia highways or roads, they have implicitly consented to proving that they are not driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs by taking a chemical test. The refusal to prove one’s sobriety, results in the administrative suspension of their driving privileges. Specifically, challenging the sufficiency and timing of the notice.

Even if there is no legal defense requiring the suppression of evidence in a DUI charge, Kilgore & Rodriguez look for any possible factual defense to challenge the criminal charges:

• Attacking the validity of the Field Sobriety Tests (SFST’s)
• Walk and Turn
• One Legged Stand
• Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)
• Attacking the reliability of the Alco-Sensor and Intoxylizer Machine

If you are facing DUI charges, don’t delay in contacting an experienced DUI defense attorney to secure the best possible outcome. Experienced Marietta criminal defense lawyers Maddox Kilgore and Carlos Rodriguez can help.

In Georgia, the law prohibits drivers from operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The law provides for two methods of prosecuting DUI alcohol: “DUI-Less Safe” and “Per Se.”

“DUI-Less Safe” requires the prosecution to show that the person was 1) driving 2) under
the influence and 3) to the extent that it is less safe for the person to drive. The law allows
for this method of proving DUI because, otherwise, all suspected DUI drivers would refuse
to submit to a chemical test that showed the presence of alcohol ordrugs in the body.

“DUI-Per Se” is a method of prosecuting DUI that does not require the prosecution to
prove that alcohol impaired a person’s ability to drive, but merely requires the State to
prove that a person’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was at .08 (eight hundredths of a gram)
or higher at any time within 3 hours after driving or being actual physical control of a
vehicle. All that matters is that a person’s BAC is at or above a .08.

The law also restricts driving under the influence of narcotics, prescription drugs, and/or
over-the-counter medications, to the extent that makes that person less safe to drive (DUI-Drugs). The State must prove that a person was driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of any drug, glue, aerosol, toxic vapor or any combined influence of any 2 or more of these substances to the extent that it is less safe for the person to drive. And even though someone might have a lawful prescription, the law in Georgia does not
consider a prescription for medications as a defense if the person is incapable of driving safely as a result of taking those medications.

The penalty for DUI depends on the type of DUI and the number of prior convictions for DUI.
Most DUI offenses are punishable as misdemeanors by up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine with the exception of those facing habitual violator status – that is, a 3rd or subsequent DUI conviction within the last 5 years.

Consequences to Driver’s License as a result of a DUI arrest and conviction are devastating. Simply being arrested and charged for DUI can result in a 12-month suspension of your driving privileges without the ability to get a limited permit.

Minor in Possession of Alcohol (MIP)
Students in high school or in college, can find themselves charged with Minor in Possession
of Alcohol (MIP). In Georgia, this offense is considered a misdemeanor and a conviction for
MIP should be avoided at all costs. It can serve as a roadblock when applying for college,
post-graduate school, jobs, internships and more. Many jurisdictions offer a diversion program of some form for those young adults charged with Minor in Possession of Alcohol. These programs usually require some sort of community service, participation fee, alcohol or drug evaluation, alcohol or drug screens in an effort to educate the participant.

Types of DUI & Alcohol Cases We Serve