Recently, legal decisions in Missouri and Oregon, along with a new bill in legislature in New Jersey, have once again thrust the issue of flashing our headlights back in the . . . spot . . . light. In Missouri, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey issued a preliminary injunction in February prohibiting the town of Ellisville from prosecuting drivers who allegedly flashed their vehicles’ head lights to warn of radar and speed traps. The city didn’t appeal the decision. ... Read More »
Home / Author Archives: Mike Hawkins
.15 down to .05 BAC: Isn’t it Amazing How the Human Body Has Changed Since 1954?
A little cursory research of DUI laws related to blood alcohol “legal limits” in Georgia reveals that as early as 1954, the Georgia General Assembly outlawed blood alcohol concentrations at a certain level. House Bill 128 was approved January 11, 1954 and provided that “If there was at that time 0.15 percent or more by weight of alcohol in the defendant’s blood, it shall be presumed that the defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor.” Fast forward to May ... Read More »
Big Brother is Watching You – and He Doesn’t Need a Warrant
Atlanta, GA — Little Rock, Arkansas may not be a likely terrorism target or a gang crime hotspot, but the Arkansas capital has decided to follow the example of high-security cities by expanding electronic surveillance of its streets. A police car with a device that photographs license plates moves through the city and scans the traffic on the streets, relaying the data it collects to a computer for sifting. Police say the surveillance helps identify stolen cars and drivers with outstanding arrest warrants. It also ... Read More »
Washington State Marijuana Legalization: Could it Pit Medical Users v. Recreational Users When it Comes to Driving??
On Friday, Judge Lisa Sutton in Washington rejected a request by a user of medical marijuana to block Washington state from implementing tougher rules on “stoned driving.” After approving a measure for legalizing the use of recreational marijuana in November, from this Thursday, Washington became the first U.S. state to not only legalize marijuana recreational use, but also bring into effect new checks and balances. The new rules, especially those related with driving under the influence of marijuana has a ... Read More »
Georgia Legislator Will Introduce Mugshot Legislation
Representative Roger Bruce Will Introduce LegislationTo Protect Against Exploitation of Headshots for Profit Atlanta, GA – December 7, 2012 – Representative Roger Bruce has recently caught the attention of national media with talks on introducing legislation in 2013 to protect individuals who have headshots for police records, commonly known as “mugshots.” These headshots are visible to the public on the sheriff’s county website and there are no guidelines on the usage of the headshots. This allows third-parties to post the headshots ... Read More »
The Cost of Getting a DUI in Georgia
Most people don’t think about how costly getting a DUI could be because nobody ever plans to get a DUI. We plan for retirement, we plan for our kids education, but it is absurd to contemplate setting aside funds for the unlikely event that we might get a DUI. In addition to the financial costs, there are many other costs that are hard to measure. Loss of reputation in the community. The impact it will have on relationships both personally ... Read More »
Georgia Police Increasing DUI Enforcement for Labor Day Weekend
As the season winds down and end-of-summer celebrations ramp up, authorities throughout Georgia are launching a crackdown on drunken driving. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety announced Friday that police, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers will be aggressively looking to pull over and arrest impaired drivers from now through the Labor Day weekend. State officials say 298 people were killed in highway crashes that were alcohol-related in Georgia in 2010. That was roughly one-fourth of all ... Read More »
Synthetic Marijuana (“Spice”) DUI Charges Hard To Prove Based Upon Georgia Crime Lab Tests
The following article was recently posted in a Georgia newspaper. It is interesting that the only comments sought by the reporter were from a DUI Task Force cop. What the article and the cop fail to report is that, not only do crime labs in Georgia and across the nation have the inability to test for this substance in blood and urine, police have no training in what to look for when a driver is detained by police and they ... Read More »
Road Signs in Georgia Remember “DUI Victims”
In Georgia, drivers along U.S. Highway 27 South near Attapulgus may have noticed a new sign recently, around Mile Marker 8. The sign, which is blue and has a white Georgia map in the center, features the names of two sisters — the late Joy and Jessica Alexander. They were among the five victims of a two-car crash in April 2011. The Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s DUI Memorial Fund offers a program where the next of kin to victims of ... Read More »
DUI Convictions and Breath Test: A Love Affair Gone Wrong?
On June 10, 2010 The Washington Post reported that nearly 400 drunk-driving convictions in Washington D.C. were based on flawed breath tests. For those unfamiliar with breath tests, “trained” officers using specialized equipment perform breath tests by having the suspect blow into the machine that supposedly determines the blood alcohol level. Police departments across the nation rely on these devices to prove your guilt. However, these tests, like all chemical tests, are highly susceptible to human and mechanical error. In this investigation, police officers ... Read More »