How DUI Cases Proceed In Johns Creek Georgia

Johns Creek is an affluent suburb northeast of Atlanta that has recently incorporated.  It includes parts of Fulton, Gwinnett, and Forsyth County.  The City of Johns Creek maintains its own police force and municipal court system.  The city court is a part time court, which means that it does not have a full time prosecuting attorney or judge and court is not held daily.

As with all municipal courts, Johns Creek Municipal Court has limited jurisdiction.  The jurisdiction of the court is generally limited to misdemeanor traffic offenses such as speeding, car accidents, minor in possession of alcohol, hit and run, and DUI.  The court also has jurisdiction of cases involving misdemeanor possession of marijuana and all city ordinance violations, as well as shoplifting.

When a Johns Creek police officer makes a more serious felony arrest, such as vehicular homicide, serious injury by vehicle, habitual violator, and or violent crime, the case would go directly the Superior Court of the county in which the offense occurred.  This is generally Fulton County Superior Court, however a small portion of Johns Creek is in both Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties.

In Johns Creek, your Johns Creek DUI lawyer can negotiate a plea or have a trial by judge, which is called a bench trial.  If you want to have a trial by jury, your Johns Creek DUI attorney will send the case to the State Court of Fulton County.  There are no jury trials in any municipal court in Georgia. Generally, most Georgia DUI lawyers use our municipal courts as a place to negotiate a favorable plea agreement with the solicitor (prosecutor).

Our office does not believe in bench trials (trial by judge only).  I do not mean to cast aspersion on our city court judges; my thought is that it's better to have 6 citizens decide a case (our misdemeanor cases have juries of 6 persons) than having just one person deciding.  The defense has a much better chance of convincing one person, on a jury of six, that the State has not met its burden of proof versus just one judge.  Keep in mind the State must convince all 6 jurors of a person's guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.

In John's Creek, the law firm of Riley McClendon, LLC serves as the prosecuting attorneys.  Bill Riley is the chief solicitor, but he has a large team of lawyers who work beneath him and regularly serve as solicitors in the court.  Don Henderson serves as his chief deputy and has the authority to negotiate all cases.  This same law firm serves as the prosecutors in several other municipal courts.  As a result, we see at least one of their prosecutors several times a week.

Johns Creek Municipal Court is located at:  11445 Johns Creek Pkwy #300, Duluth, GA 30097

If you have been charged with DUI in Johns Creek, Georgia or any other traffic offense, contact the Johns Creek DUI lawyers at our office.  We are here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and our Johns Creek DUI Attorneys are trained to provide you the best possible defense.  Remember, you only have 30 days to file the appeal of the suspension of your driver's license.  Don't wait to call.  We can help.