Cobb County DUI Breath Test Machines

Have you been arrested for DUI? Do you recall the officer reading you a card and then asking you to submit to a state administered breath test? Was this very confusing because you just took a breath test (maybe even twice) and yet the Cobb County or Smyrna officer arrested you for DUI and is now asking you to take yet another test?

It seems that DUI procedures are designed to confuse drivers. It is stressful enough to be pulled over by a Cobb Co. or Smyrna officer, questioned about drinking, asked to perform DUI field sobriety tests, asked to give breath samples, arrested, and then read a card, but now they want another breath test and are talking about suspending your license for a year if you refuse? Yikes!

Cobb County DUI officers use a device called an Alco-sensor or PBT at the side of the road. Courts have held that these are very inaccurate and the reading it gives the officer is for his own use and is not admissable in court. All that can be said in court is whether the test was positive or negative for alcohol. But remember, it is not illegal to drink and drive in Georgia, it is just illegal to be over the limit (or drunk) and drive.

This is confusind to most drivers accused of a Cobb Co. DUI because they submit to an alco-sensor, but are then arrested and asked by the officer to take another breath test. Why would they want to do that? What about rights? Well, the Georgia courts have long held that it is not double jeopardy for the Department of Driver Services to have a seperate prosecution against an accused DUI driver to suspend their license for failure to take the second, or state administered, breath test. This is the test usable against the driver in Cobb County DUI trials and motions. However, the best DUI lawyers are challenging these results. There are many arguments to be made to keep the test results out of the DUI trial altogether. There are also scientific and programming challenges that can be mounted against the results.

If you are facing a Cobb County DUI in the Cobb state court or traffic court, or if you are facing a DUI in the Municipal Court of Smyrna, call Cobb County DUI lawyer Richard Lawson for a free case consultation.