Recent Blog Posts
Can There Be a Domestic Violence Case Without Visible Injuries in Georgia?
A domestic dispute can bring police to a home even when no one has a black eye, bruise, cut, or other obvious injury. Officers may hear two different accounts of an argument, speak with witnesses, review a phone video, and make an arrest based largely on what the people involved say happened. The absence… Read More »
Text Messages Can Help or Hurt a Georgia Domestic Violence Defense
A domestic violence accusation often grows out of a relationship with a long history behind it. By the time police become involved, the people may have exchanged hundreds or thousands of text messages about arguments, children, money, plans, apologies, breakups, and everyday life. Investigators may focus on a handful of messages sent shortly before… Read More »
Constructive Possession in a Drug Trafficking Case Involving a Shared Car
Finding a trafficking quantity of drugs inside a car does not automatically establish that every person riding in the vehicle possessed them. A driver may own the car, a passenger may have brought a bag inside, or several occupants may have access to the place where police discover the drugs. When no one is… Read More »
The Weight of the Drugs Can Determine the Entire Direction of a Georgia Trafficking Case
In a Georgia trafficking case, drug weight can affect much more than the name of the charge. Once the quantity reaches a trafficking threshold, additional increases can place the case into higher statutory ranges carrying longer mandatory minimum sentences and substantially larger fines. A dispute over weight may still matter even when reducing the… Read More »
Sleeping It Off in Your Car Can Still Lead to a Georgia DUI Charge
Pulling over after realizing you should not continue driving may feel like the responsible choice. Someone who parks, turns off the car, and falls asleep may believe the risk of a DUI ended when the vehicle stopped moving. Waking up to an officer knocking on the window can be a confusing way to learn… Read More »
Can You Appeal a DUI Conviction in Georgia? What Appellate Review Can Challenge
A DUI conviction can feel like the point where every disputed issue has already been decided. Yet Georgia law provides appellate review in appropriate cases, and the work after conviction looks very different from the defense presented at trial. Attention shifts from persuading a judge or jury about what happened on the road to… Read More »
What DUI Probation Looks Like After a Georgia Conviction
A DUI case can feel as though it reaches its endpoint when the judge announces the sentence. For many people, though, probation is the part of the case that follows them into ordinary life. Work schedules, family responsibilities, travel, appointments, community service, classes, and treatment requirements all have to fit around conditions imposed by… Read More »
Rising Blood Alcohol and DUI Tests Taken Long After a Stop in Georgia
A DUI chemical test produces a number at a particular point in time. When a driver is stopped shortly after leaving a restaurant, bar, party, or other gathering and the breath or blood test comes much later, that number may reflect a different stage of alcohol absorption than existed while the person was actually… Read More »
DUI After a Serious-Injury Crash Requires More Than a Routine DUI Defense
A DUI arrest after a serious crash can feel very different from the kind of case people usually picture when they hear “DUI.” There may be ambulances at the scene, extensive vehicle damage, hospital treatment, multiple witnesses, and investigators trying to reconstruct a few critical seconds before impact. By the time charges are filed,… Read More »
How Officers Score and Interpret Field Sobriety Tests in Georgia
A DUI report may say that a driver “failed” the field sobriety tests, making the roadside evaluation sound like an exam with a clear passing score. Standardized field sobriety testing works differently. Officers are trained to watch for defined clues during particular exercises, record what they observe, and consider those observations with the rest… Read More »
