Can a prosecutor see an arrest from another state?

The answer is that most likely a prosecutor can see an arrest from another state. There are many ways in which someone's traffic and criminal history may be revealed.

When a person is facing a traffic misdemeanor offense, such as DUI, a record of that arrest and disposition is placed on that person's GCIC, NCIC, and their MVR.

The GCIC is the Georgia Criminal Information Center. Anyone arrested in Georgia will have that arrest reported on their GCIC report. Presumably, the same is true in any other state.

The NCIC is the Federal version of the same system. All local arrests are reported to the National Crime Information Center.

Furthermore, all convictions (not arrests) are reported on a person's Motor Vehicle Report (MVR), and even though we can only pull a 7-year MVR report, the prosecutor and judge can see someone's lifetime report.

As a result, when a person has prior arrests from outside of the State of Georgia, there are several ways a Georgia prosecutor can see those arrests. Those arrests are likely to have been reported to the NCIC or on his or her MVR from the other state.

Accordingly, most prosecutors and courts are aware of out of state criminal offenses. That being said, in some smaller municipal courts, prosecutors and judges may overlook out of state convictions because they fail to look for them.

It is the position of our office that we are not here to help the prosecutor punish our clients. While our attorneys will not mislead the court, we will not inform a prosecutor or judge of other offenses on our client's criminal record unless specifically asked.

If asked by a judge, we may be forced to withdraw as counsel to protect our client from possible increased punishment.

In closing, since it is likely the prosecutor and the judge will now about someone's full criminal history and their traffic ticket history, an accused driver should act under that assumption. Take you case seriously and get the Best DUI Defense in Georgia.

Remember you only have 30 days to choose between appealing your license suspension or installing an ignition interlock device.

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