The Latest Folly in the City of Atlanta Municipal Court

A few weeks ago, it was announced that the Atlanta Prosecutors would no longer sign orders that allow Atlanta DUI Lawyers to get copies of the videos of our client's Georgia State Patrol Arrests.

As a result, we as Atlanta DUI Attorneys will be forced to make substantive decisions about our cases without full information about our cases.  In effect, we are being forced to commit malpractice for no reason. The victims will be our clients and their families.

Unfortunately, there may be little recourse because the Georgia Misdemeanor Discovery Law requires the State to provide the statements of the person arrested, scientific reports (such as the breath test slip), and any exculpatory evidence in the case (evidence that shows the potential innocence of the accused).

My position, and the position of most DUI Lawyers in Atlanta, is that the video almost always contains exculpatory evidence, and the prosecutor should not be in the position to decide what evidence we can and cannot see.

As an Atlanta DUI Lawyer, it seems to me that the Atlanta Municipal Court never misses an opportunity to make the experience of attending court as difficult and time consuming as possible. My position is that as an Atlanta DUI Attorney, my clients deserve to have all of the evidence reviewed in their case before deciding what to do about their DUI charge.

The real shame is that this decision may ultimately have the opposite intended affect.  I think the result will be more case being bound over to the State Court of Fulton County for a jury trial.