Georgia DUI Defense Lawyer

Atlanta Area Attorney for DUI

Getting charged with a DUI can seemingly come out of nowhere. You might have just been out with friends or to dinner and suddenly you have police lights in your rear-view mirror and are subject to some pretty aggressive questioning. If you have been charged with a DUI, do NOT go to court unprepared or wait until right before your court date to talk to a lawyer.

Why You Should NOT Plead Guilty or Talk to the Police

It’s critical that drivers who have been charged with a DUI in Georgia do not simply admit their guilt, either when being interviewed by the police or when talking to the prosecutor. Just because you drank alcohol and then drove does not mean you are automatically going to be found guilty. The reality is, the prosecutor needs to prove that the police did everything correctly and that the evidence against you was collected and tested appropriately. They need to prove that you were over the legal limit or your driving was affected. It’s not as simple as “I drank, I drove, I’m guilty”.

Before you enter a plea or attend court, arrange an initial consultation with Phyllis Gingrey Collins either over the phone or via videoconference.

Negotiating Sentencing and DUI Charges in Georgia

Once you are working with an attorney, they will review the case against you. In some cases, it makes sense to work towards an outright “not guilty” verdict; other times, the case against the accused is strong and success at trial is unlikely. If there is a strong case against you, we can sometimes get the best outcome by working with the prosecutor to get the DUI charges reduced, minimized or re-classified. A common approach is to negotiate that the person accused of DUI will undergo a treatment program, and the charges will be reduced to reckless driving. A reckless driving charge has far less of an impact then a DUI charge when it comes to your insurance rates and driving record. So while you may still plead guilty to a charge, it’s a far less serious charge and it will likely save you thousands of dollars in the years to come.

Possible Penalties for a DUI Charge

If you are convicted of a DUI in the traditional court system you can face a wide variety of consequences, even for a first-time offense. A Georgia driver convicted of DUI faces any of the following potential penalties:

• Driver’s License Suspension
• Community Service
• Between 90 days and 12 months in Jail
• Installation of Interlock Ignition Device (which makes you test your Blood Alcohol Level before you can drive your car)
• DUI School
• Substance Abuse Counseling

To ensure that you do not face a worst-case scenario when it comes to sentencing, talk to Atlanta Area DUI defense attorney Phyllis Gingrey Collins today

How a DUI Defense Lawyer Can Help You

We get a lot of messages through radio and TV about drinking and driving. And to be fair, it’s a great idea to simply never drive after drinking alcohol. However, that does NOT mean that anytime you drive a car after consuming alcohol that you have committed a crime and are guilty of a DUI. A DUI conviction requires that the prosecution proves that you were over the legal limit at the time you were in control of the vehicle. There are many scenarios, including that you were UNDER the legal limit and therefore allowed to drive, that we can argue in your defense.

Initial Consultation by Phone or Video Conference

You can have Phyllis Gingrey Collins explain how she can help in your particular case by arranging an initial consultation.