Most people convicted of DUI in Cobb County, about 90 percent of them in fact receive probation. However, a much lower percentage of defendants successfully complete DUI probation. In many cases, probation is essentially unsupervised. Defendants must simply stay out of trouble for a few months and maybe jump through a hoop or two. As outlined below, DUI probation is much more extensive.
An aggressive trial defense is the easiest way to avoid these harsh conditions. A procedural defense at a DUI roadblock is a good example. Just like DUI probation has many conditions, DUI roadblocks have many prerequisites. If officials fall shorts in just one area, such as a lack of sufficient pre-checkpoint publicity, the judge could throw the case out of court.
These magic bullet defenses aren’t always available. In these situations, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer engineers a favorable plea bargain arrangement. Good lawyers do more than stand with defendants during plea bargains, shake their hands, and wish them good luck. A top Marietta criminal defense lawyer prepares a defendant for the harsh realities of DUI probation and is available for various post-trial matters.
Standard Conditions
As mentioned, in many cases, probation really is a slap on the wrist. But DUI probation is different. It’s basically a hybrid of jail time and probation. So, the standard conditions, which everyone must follow, are much more restrictive.
- Remain in the County: All probation agreements contain this condition. But officials generally look the other way if a probationer crosses the county line for work or social purposes. But if a DUI probationer drives across the county line, a motion to revoke is almost inevitable.
- Avoid Disreputable People: When disreputable people get arrested for disreputable things, they often spill their guts to police interrogators. If a probationer’s name comes up during these interrogations, you can probably guess what happens next.
- Work And/or Attend School Full Time: Officials assume that if a defendant isn’t at work or school, the defendant is probably driving around getting in trouble. DUI probation is specifically designed to keep probationers off the road. If a probation officer doesn’t see hard evidence, like a work timesheet or school attendance record, the probation officer usually assumes the probationer has strayed from the straight and narrow path.
Other standard conditions include avoiding further trouble with the law, remaining current on FSOs (family support obligations, like child support), and submitting to random searches.
In DUI probation, the “search” is usually a search of the defendant’s body, in the form of a random alcohol test. Frequently, defendants can’t comply with this condition without breaking another one, namely leaving work or school early and getting in trouble with a boss or teacher.
Offense-Specific Conditions
A random test requirement is just one offence-specific condition in DUI probation. Two other big ones are an alcohol evaluation and an IID.
Alcohol evaluations are very tricky, especially for first-time offenders. Generally, first-timers had too much to drink and, when they hit the road, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, they don’t have chronic alcohol problems.
Most alcohol abuse programs are twelve step-based programs. If people don’t admit they have problems, their counsellors often insist they’re in denial and throw them out of the program.
A Marietta criminal defense lawyer must ensure that defendants don’t end up in such programs. Usually, attorneys tailor probation contracts and keep defendants away from such situations.
An IID (ignition interlock device, or blow-and-go) is basically a portable Breathalyzer attached to a vehicle’s ignition. Usually, if the driver’s BAC level is above .04, the vehicle won’t start. Additionally, if the defendant doesn’t provide rolling samples while the car’s in motion, the vehicle won’t restart.
The problem here is that an IID is basically a scarlet “A.” Everyone who gets in the car, including people like potential sales clients, knows the defendant is on DUI probation.
To resolve this dilemma, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer often arranges an offset. For example, the defendant might agree to more random alcohol tests in exchange for an IID waiver.
Probation Violations
DUI probation conditions are more restrictive than average. Probation officers also have a hair-trigger enforcement attitude. Infractions that they may let slide in other cases, such as a failure to pay fines, often result in a motion to revoke DUI probation.
Once again, in other cases, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer often asks prosecutors to give probationers second chances. But prosecutors aren’t that generous in most DUI probation violation matters. So, an attorney needs another plan.
This other plan is usually resolving the matter out of court. Prosecutors usually listen when a lawyer makes an offer like more restrictive conditions or a few days in jail as a condition of reinstatement. Most people have enough time served to cover these reinstatement sentences.
Probation Modification and Early Discharge
Technically, a judge could grant a motion to revoke probation on the same day s/he sentences a defendant to probation. Likewise, a judge can modify the conditions of probation at almost any time.
Frequently, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer asks the judge to modify the alcohol test or reporting provision. These are usually the most burdensome conditions of DUI probation. Supervision check-ins aren’t dental appointments scheduled at the defendant’s convenience and subject to cancellation at any time. Alcohol tests are equally burdensome. Most defendants have about two hours to appear at testing centers after they receive requests for samples.
Usually, the defendant must establish a specific hardship. Perhaps Joe has transportation issues or a supervisor who’s a sticker for attendance.
A court may also terminate probation under Section 42-8-103.1 (a) if the defendant has served at least a year of the sentence and “it is satisfied that its action would be in the best interest of justice and the welfare of society.” So, defendants need not establish specific hardships. However, they must have voluntarily toed the line, proving that supervision is unnecessary.
DUI probation is very onerous in Georgia. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta criminal defense attorney, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We routinely handle matters in Cobb County and nearby jurisdictions.
