Cobb County DUI Defense Lawyer

When you have been arrested and charged with DUI, you have only 30 days from the time of the arrest to request an ALS (Administrative License Suspension) hearing.  This request must be in writing and when it is received, you will have a hearing scheduled.  During that time, a Cobb County DUI defense lawyer from the Law Offices of Richard S. Lawson will gather evidence to bring to the hearing to fight to avoid the automatic driver's license suspension that could occur in any DUI case.  Depending upon your situation, this suspension could be for varying lengths of time.  In a first DUI charge, the license suspension is for one year. A work permit, in which you are allowed to legally drive to and from work may be allowed under certain circumstances. Additionally for a first DUI, you have the option to request an ALS hearing or to install an ignition interlock device on your vehicle. 

ALS Hearings Defense Lawyer in Cobb County

The Department of Driver Services has these hearings in order to determine whether your license should be suspended and they review certain aspects of your arrest, including:

• Did the officer involved in the arrest have reasonable grounds to be suspicious that you were driving a car while intoxicated, either with drugs or alcohol, and were you legally arrested for DUI;
• Were you involved in an accident during the incident that caused serious injury or a fatality;
• Were you properly and legally informed of your “implied consent” rights and the law regarding refusing a chemical blood alcohol concentration test when you were asked to submit to the testing;
• Did you refuse to take the test;
• Whether the test was administered to you and the BAC level registered at .08% or higher for an adult, .02% or higher if you were under 21, or .04% or higher if arrested while operating a commercial vehicle;
• Whether the tests were correctly administered per the training guidelines.

After the ALS hearing, the status of your license will be determined within five days.  At the Law Offices of Richard S. Lawson, the legal team is highly qualified to dispute any evidence that was gathered against.  The firm has helped countless individuals in the Cobb County area to avoid losing their license or to appeal a judgment that resulted in a suspended license.  You must act quickly and contact the firm immediately after the arrest.

Ignition Interlock Device

As of July 1st, 2017, a new law was implemented giving those arrested for DUI the choice to request an ALS hearing or install an ignition interlock device on their vehicle. The interlock must be on your car for at least 120 days in the event you took a breath, blood, or urine test.  For those who are accused of refusing, the interlock must be on your vehicle for 12 months and cannot be removed for any reason, even if you win your case or it is reduced to another charge such as reckless driving.

This is a big change from the past when winning the underlying case, or getting it reduced to another charge, eliminated the administrative license suspension. That is why installing the device is a big commitment, and it is not for everyone.  

However, the interlock option does open up the opportunity to fight more cases.  Many of our clients, in the past, have had to make the difficult decision to enter a plea of guilty, just to save their license.  No more!  Now, we have the opportunity to fight a person's cases without facing a hard suspension of their driver's license. 

That being said, there are risks.  Even a minor traffic offense can result in the interlock permit being suspended for six months.  We ask our clients to let us know if they have received a ticket, so we can help them avoid a suspension.

Contact a Cobb County DUI defense lawyer from the Law Offices of Richard S. Lawson today.