College Park GA DUI Lawyer - College Park DUI Attorney
College Park GA DUI Defense
If you have recently been charged with DUI in College Park, GA, then you know how frightening the experience can be. You might be wondering what kind of sentence you can expect, when you will get you license back and if you really need to hire a lawyer. The professionals at the Law Office of Richard Lawson are here to answer all your questions and more! There are a lot of questions that go along with a DUI. Like, did you know you only have 30 days after arrest to file the paper work to get your drivers license returned so you can drive as you are awaiting your trial? No need to worry, we have been practicing DUI law in Georgia for over 25 years and we can advise you what to expect after your DUI arrest. First of all, if you want to get your best results and maybe even get your charges reduced to lesser offenses, then hiring a DUI lawyer is critical. Richard Lawson is a former DUI Prosecutor with over 25 years' experience handling DUI case in College Park GA and throughout Fulton County.
30-Day Warning for DUI Arrests in College Park Georgia
When you are arrested for DUI in College Park GA, you only have thirty days to protect your rights. You need to hire a College Park Georgia DUI Attorney in order to protect your rights, including your right to drive and your freedom. Act now. You only have one opportunity to protect your right to drive. Get your ALS Hearing Request filed today.
College Park prosecutors and judges look to discourage DUI so they want to impose as steep of penalties as possible. There are a lot of different sentences that you can receive, but the worst include jail time, probation, community service, high fines and court fees, random drug or alcohol testing, loss of license, mandatory safe driving classes, alcohol or drug counseling and more! Not to mention the stigma that can be involved when a DUI conviction is on your record. Potential employers and school admission boards will be privy to that information for years to come. The best way to avoid the worst of these sentences is to build a solid defense with the help of our College Park DUI attorneys.
What can a College Park GA DUI Attorney Do For You?
An experienced College Park DUI lawyer will work hard to protect you from unnecessary consequences of DUI charges. For example, after you are arrested your Georgia driver's license will be suspended. This will happen before you can go to trial or even have a plea hearing. You only have thirty days after your arrest to file what is known as a 30-day letter. This letter is basically an appeal to stop the state of Georgia from imposing a suspension of your license. Our office is staffed by College Park DUI Lawyers that know the system in College Park GA. Our College Park DUI Attorneys know how to handle your license hearing.
When you have a lawyer from the Law Office of Richard Lawson, we will show you how to do this and make sure it gets taken care of right away. Richard Lawson has been practicing DUI law for over 20 years and will make sure you are being taken care of. He specializes in driving under the influence (DUI) law and also has immense experience with possession of Marijuana or other drugs, underage consumption of alcohol, Minor in Possession of alcohol (MIP), and drug related DUI cases.
What You Need to Know About College Park Georgia DUI Law
THE STOP
The first step in the College Park DUI process is when an officer pulls you over or stops you at a DUI Checkpoint and suspects DUI. This is an important stage because any errors the police make during the stop can later help your defense. Police must have a reason for pulling you over i.e. you must have committed some traffic offense like speeding or improper lane change. You cannot be pulled over simply because an officer saw you leaving a bar at a late hour. The other way police can stop you is through a checkpoint that must be pre-approved and completely random in nature.  Once they have pulled you over, if police smell alcohol think you are acting or look intoxicated they will ask you to perform a field sobriety test. This can either be a field sobriety test, a chemical blood alcohol test or both.  Field Sobriety Tests are physical tests where the police will ask you to touch your nose or walk a straight line. They include the walk and turn test, the one leg stand, and the HGN test. It is important to note that you can legally decline taking these tests and you will not be penalized. Field sobriety testing in Georgia is voluntary.
CHEMICAL TESTING AND IMPLIED CONSENT
The second type of sobriety test used in College Park, GA is a blood alcohol content chemical (BAC) test. This is done by taking a blood breath or urine sample and then a test is done to see how much alcohol is in your system. If you are over the legal limit, it is hard to refute that evidence. Even if you are able to successful perform the field sobriety tests, if your chemical tests show you are over the legal limit for alcohol in your system, you will be arrested and charged with DUI.  You can decline taking a chemical test but it will have some mixed consequences. If you do not take the chemical BAC test than the prosecutor will not have the results as evidence against you and your defense may be stronger. On the other hand, every driver's license in Georgia comes with a implied consent that you agree to take a BAC test whenever you are asked to do so. If you decline taking a BAC test, you are breaking your agreement and your license will be suspended for up to a year and there is usually no chance to obtain a limited driving permit. Refusal to take the breath or blood test can lead to a license suspension. Your College Park DUI lawyer will be able to explain this to you in greater detail.
THE COLLEGE PARK GA DUI TRIAL PROCESS
If you are arrested for DUI in College Park, GA, you will be taken directly to jail. You will usually be able to get out on bond after a few hours there. There are a few bond options: you can get a loan through a bondsman, pay a cash bond or use a property bond. During this time afterwards, you should get a Skilled College Park DUI lawyer who will be able to help you file a thirty-day letter in order to get your driver's license back until you go to trial. Next they will go over your entire case and look for any errors the police may have made or any evidence that will work in your favor.
A DUI lawyer like Richard Lawson will listen to you and find out what kind of sentence you are hoping to get. For example, if you feel you must keep your license at any cost, or you are willing to pay any fees but stay out of jail. Later, you will then receive a date for an arraignment hearing. This is the time when you will really need an experienced DUI lawyer. At the arraignment you will have to decide whether to plead guilty or not guilty. A College Park DUI lawyer will be able to advise you what the best plea for you will be and what you can expect to happen afterwards.
After the arraignment, you will prepare to go to trial if you have entered a ‘not guilty' plea. This is when the prosecution may offer you a plea bargain.  It will be up to you and your lawyer to decide whether to not you should take the plea bargain. An experienced College Park DUI lawyer will be able to help you tell you what kind of a sentence can expect to get if you go to trial and are found guilty. You can use this information to decide if the plea bargain would work you, in some cases it may be better to go to trial. If you don' take the prosecutor's offer or you aren't offered a deal, the net step is trial by jury.
In College Park, GA it is your right to trial by 6 person jury made up of fellow citizens. However that trial will happen in Fulton County State Court. There are no jury trials in municipal court. The prosecutor will have to prove to the jurors that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This can usually benefit you since all you and your lawyer have to prove is some reasonable doubt that an errors or misunderstanding was made. Sometimes your lawyer can even expose some error or violation of your rights and have the entire case thrown out. If you want superior legal representation for your College Park, GA DUI charge, call the Law Office of Richard Lawson today.  We will fight to get you your best results!
DUI SANCTIONS / DUI CONSEQUENCES IN COLLEGE PARK GEORGIA
When facing a DUI charge, it is vital to know what consequences you may be facing if you are convicted College Park, GA. The State of Georgia has set minimum and maximum penalties including: up to one year in jail time, community service, probation, loss of driver's license, and $1000 in fines not including court and other statutory surcharges. There are also a lot of programs that you may be sentenced to complete. These are usually random drug and alcohol tests, alcohol and drug counseling, drug and alcohol treatment programs and DUI safe driving classes. Plus, the more times you are charged with DUI, the worse these sentences get. If you have been arrested for DUI in College Park, GA call the Law Offices of Richard S. Lawson today. We have over 25 years of experience in fighting for the rights of our DUI clients. More about Georgia DUI Penalties can be found throughout the website.
BUILDING YOUR COLLEGE PARK GEORGIA DUI DEFENSE
As discussed earlier, a DUI conviction in College Park, GA can have a lot of steep penalties, even if it's a first-time offense. Fortunately, a College Park DUI attorney can make a big difference in the severity of your results. Without an attorney working for you, you could end up serving jail time, losing your driver's license, paying a lot of money in fines and more! In some cases, you could even have to continue to take random alcohol and drug tests. If it is a repeat offense, the consequences are even graver and there is a possibility of you being charged with felony DUI. The DUI Laws in Georgia can be complicated. It's important to have the best on your side.
The next step in your College Park DUI trial is the arraignment. Several days after your initial arrest you will receive a date and time to appear before a judge for your arraignment. This is your chance to plea ‘guilty' or ‘not guilty'. It is important to note that even if you plea ‘not guilty' at the arraignment, you can still change you plea when you get to trial. In fact, most experienced DUI lawyers will have you plea ‘not guilty' at the arraignment so that they can gain access to the evidence the prosecution has against you and decide how solid their case really is.
If you plead not guilty you will move to trial. This is the time when you lawyer will attempt to negotiate with the prosecution to get you a plea bargain. A plea bargain is when you decide before court to plead guilty and accept a previously agreed upon sentence. Plea bargains are good because you know exactly what you will be getting and you don't have to waste the time and energy of a trial. If a plea bargain is not offered, or you decide not to accept it, you will go to trial.  Your lawyer will have to build a defense for you. This can be a variety of things based on if the initial stop was conducted legally, if your rights were violated at any time, if any errors were made in the sobriety tests performed, etc.
RELATED CASES TO COLLEGE PARK GEORGIA DUI:
VIOLATIONS OF PROBATION IN COLLEGE PARK – VIOLATIONS OF PROBATION THROUGHOUT FULTON COUNTY GEORGIA
Besides DUI cases, we also have vast experience helping clients with probation violation charges. If you are on probation in College Park, GA than you know the consequences of a violation. If you are charged with any other crime while on probation, fail a random drug or alcohol screening, or if your probation office (PO) feels that you have not been following the terms of your probation, you will be arrested for violation of probation.
Your probation officer could feel you are not following probation in cases that you are late on payments, are not doing your community service, are not attending your counseling appointments or many other things. If this happens he/she will get a warrant for your arrest and you will end up in jail. Unfortunately, a bond is usually not available for these types of jail stays. You will then be placed in jail until you can go before a judge and a ruling is made and without a lawyer you may be waiting in jail for a while.
The best way to make sure your rights are not being violated and to get out of jail in the shortest period of time is to get help from our College Park lawyers. A lawyer experienced in College Park, GA probation violations will know the best way to move your case along quickly and how to get the best results. If you are on probation for DUI and you are arrested for another DUI, the court will look to crack down on you. It is important to have a lawyer if you are on probation and think or know that you are going to be charged with a violation. Do not wait to see if you will be going to jail before contacting help, call our experienced Fulton County Lawyers today. Call the Law Offices of Richard S. Lawson today for a free consultation.
MINOR IN POSSESSION OF ALCOHOL ( MIP ) AND OTHER ALCOHOL AND DRUG RELATED OFFENSES
Police officers in College Park, GA are not afraid to charge young people with underage possession and consumption of alcohol if they are caught with even a small amount of alcohol and are under 21. This type of charge is referred to as MIP, standing for Minor in Possession. Just because it involves a minor and is usually only charged as a misdemeanor, does not mean that the sentences, if convicted, are minor. A conviction can stay on your driving record forever. Sometimes, it can even cause you to lose your license. Getting a lawyer is extremely important in these situations because a bad decision at a young age can effect your career and educational prospects for years to come. You can also lose your drivers license and have a permanent criminal record.
Besides Minor in Possession charges, our office also represents persons charged with giving alcohol to minors and other offenses such as open container violations and possession of marijuana or other drugs. These offenses can seem like no big deal but can actually have serious and long term consequences. For example, did you know that if you are convicted of possession of marijuana, even if you were not driving a vehicle you can still lose your license? Our lawyers will be able to explain to you why that is possible and what to do to stop it from happening. But this will not happen by itself, you need to call and speak with a College Park attorney right now so we can begin working for you.
There is Hope - We Can Help You Now!!
Call us 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a free consultation. We are here everyday, holiday including because we know you need immediate help. Let us take the pressure off you now and get started on your best defense.
MAP TO COLLEGE PARK GEORGIA MUNICIPAL COURT AT 3667 MAIN STREET COLLEGE PARK, GA 30337
Our Attorneys
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Richard Lawson
Managing Partner at Lawson & Berry:
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Kimberly A. Berry
Partner at Lawson & Berry:
College Park DUI Resources:
College Park Police Department
Georgia Department of Drivers Services
