First DUI Penalties in GA

By: Cory Yager, Ex-Police Officer and Award-Winning Atlanta DUI Lawyer Near Me for a DUI Atlanta GA

Many people facing a first offense DUI in Georgia often ask, “What happens when you get a DUI for the first time?”

Getting arrested for DUI in GA means dealing with two different tracks of penalties: administrative and criminal. The administrative penalties affect your driver’s license and come from the Georgia Department of Driver Services (GA DDS), and that process begins right after your arrest.

The criminal case happens in DUI court, where a judge will impose mandatory penalties under Georgia DUI law, if you’re convicted.

Even if you beat your case in court, the GA DDS license suspension still stands, which means your driving privileges will be taken away for a period of time.

Knowing you face two types of penalties raises two key questions: “How long will my license be taken away, and what criminal penalties will I face?”

In this article, top-rated Atlanta DUI lawyer Cory Yager explains what happens after a first DUI arrest, the criminal and license consequences, and how to beat a DUI in court.

What are the Penalties for a First Offense DUI in Georgia?

As mentioned above, the two-track “system” for a first DUI offense means that you’re facing two penalties for DUI at one time.

Not only do you have to prepare for your license to be suspended for at least 30 days (and in some cases, one full year), you also have to worry about a mandatory DUI court appearance where you’ll be facing these mandatory 1st DUI penalties:

• Jail: 24 hours in jail is required if the BAC is 0.08 or higher
• Fines: $300 to $1,000, before court surcharges and fees
• DUI School: 20-hour Risk Reduction Course
• DUI Probation: 12-month minimum, minus any days served when you were arrested
• Community Service: 40 Hours

First DUI Penalties: License Suspension for Adult Drivers, Under 21, and CDL Holders

“Do you lose your license for a first DUI in Georgia?” The answer is YES. Every driver arrested for driving under the influence will have to deal with an administrative license suspension. But whether or not you’re eligible for a Limited Permit depends on the type of license you hold. Are you a driver over 21, under 21, or hold a CDL?

Important Note: You only have 30 days after your DUI arrest to appeal the license suspension with Georgia DDS. If you miss this deadline, you risk a full 12-month DUI license suspension. An experienced DUI lawyer can help you file the ALS paperwork with the Georgia DDS in Conyers, Georgia.

Drivers Over 21. As a Georgia driver over 21, if you register a 0.08 or higher blood alcohol content reading, you will be arrested for DUI. The Georgia DDS will suspend your license for one year. You may be eligible for a Limited Permit after 120 days and completion of DUI School (Risk Reduction). This Limited Permit allows you to drive to court-approved places like work or school.

If you refused the state-administered breath test, you may choose a different option: install an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) and apply for a Limited Driving Permit. To be eligible, you must apply within 30 days of your arrest. This permit lets you drive with the device installed for 12 months.

Which path is right for you? Appealing the license suspension or choosing the IID both have pros and cons. A skilled DUI defense lawyer can explain the consequences of each and help you make the best decision for your case.

Drivers Under 21. Georgia drivers under 21 face harsher license penalties as a result of Georgia’s zero-tolerance policy relating to underage alcohol possession (Minor in Possession) and consumption. This means that the BAC threshold to be arrested for DUI is only 0.02% rather than the 0.08% legal limit for adults over 21. Therefore, if you get a DUI first offense under 21, you face a ‘hard’ automatic 12-month license suspension, with no Limited Permit option.

CDL Holders. CDL holders are held to a lower BAC threshold of 0.04. If you’re arrested for DUI and hold a CDL, you will be issued a 24-hour out-of-service order. This means you’ll have to take your CMV off the road immediately for that amount of time. Plus, with a first DUI offense, you face automatic one-year disqualification of your CDL, even if you get a DUI in your personal vehicle.

How Long Does a DUI Stay on Your Record?

A DUI first offense is classified as a misdemeanor in Georgia, but it stays on your criminal record for LIFE. Georgia law doesn’t allow you to use the First Offender Act on a first DUI charge.

That means future employers, insurance companies, and even scholarship boards will see it. Plus, if you like to travel, countries like Canada may not accept you, as a DUI offense may prohibit you from visiting.

So, if you’re searching for how long a DUI stays on your record in Georgia, the answer is forever.

That’s why it’s critical to speak with a DUI defense attorney near me before going to court.

Legal Defenses for DUI

A skilled DUI defense lawyer will know how to challenge each ‘phase’ of the DUI: from pre-arrest challenges of the DUI stop to performance on the Field Sobriety Tests, to post-arrest breath test results.

Challenging the Legality of the Traffic Stop: In Georgia, police must have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ to pull you over. They can’t just pull you over for no reason; they must witness a violation of some kind to justify their stop.

Improper Instruction or Poor Performance on the Field Sobriety Tests: The NHTSA mandates that police must give strict instructions when administering the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (100 percent optional and not scientific, by the way). Plus, your performance on the tests can be influenced by the road conditions, any medications you may take, or other factors besides alcohol, which may not justify DUI.

Improper Reading of the Implied Consent Warning: The arresting officer must read the Implied Consent Warning card immediately after you were arrested and before requesting a state-administered breath, blood, or urine test. If the officer fails to read, misreads, or reads it too early or too late, this may be grounds for suppressing the post-arrest test results.

Flawed Breath Test Results: It’s not just the BAC number that matters. Many factors can skew breath alcohol test results: the officer’s training, calibration records, whether they observed you for 20 minutes before administering the test, and ‘foreign objects’ in your mouth before the test.

If the breath test result is affected by any one of these factors, a skilled and experienced DUI attorney near me may present a motion to suppress the breathalyzer results and ask the court to exclude them from evidence.

Speak to Our DUI Criminal Defense Attorneys in Atlanta for a First-Time DUI Offense

If you’re facing a first-time DUI offense in Georgia, you will have to make a mandatory court appearance in DUI court. A skilled DUI attorney may be able to get your 1st DUI in GA reduced to a lesser charge, like reckless driving, which doesn’t carry the same license consequences as a DUI for most drivers.

Atlanta DUI lawyer Cory Yager served nearly a decade as a Cobb County and Roswell police officer, so he understands firsthand how to challenge the police officer’s observations and unclear instructions during the Field Sobriety Tests that led to your arrest.

Georgia DUI attorney Bubba Head, an expert in the Intoxilyzer 9000, Georgia’s breath testing machine, has devoted his entire 48-year legal career to defending Georgia drivers accused of DUI and has secured many non-DUI dispositions for those clients, including getting DUIs dismissed to reckless driving.

Georgia criminal defense lawyer Larry Kohn is a highly reviewed DUI attorney with over 570 five-star reviews on AVVO. He has spent nearly 30 years successfully advocating for clients across the state of Georgia.

All three of our Atlanta DUI attorneys are co-authors of the DUI book that Georgia attorneys use to prepare for trial: The Georgia DUI Trial Practice Manual.

So, to keep a DUI off your record, why hire anyone else? Call us for a FREE consultation at 404-567-5515. Tell Cory, Bubba, or Larry everything that happened, and they will review your case for free.

Our Fulton County DUI Law Office Location

Our new main office is in north Fulton County. The address is 5560 Roswell Road, Bldg H, Suite 210, Sandy Springs, GA 30342. It is about a quarter mile from where Georgia 400 and I-285 meet.

You can find our law office just south of I-285. You can reach it from Roswell Road. Enter through the parking deck on the third level (P3).

The Prado P4 parking deck directly in front of the Target store shelters our front entrance from weather conditions. From our office windows, we can see the Lifetime Fitness Center pool. Our entrance is one level down, at P3.

Our office is easy to reach from Interstate 285 and Georgia 400. This makes it a great central spot for accessing all Metro Atlanta criminal courts. In under ten minutes, our lawyers can get to the DeKalb County line, Cobb County line, and Gwinnett County line from our office.

OTHER HELPFUL LINKS

Some of Our Busiest Municipal Courts:

• Sandy Springs Municipal Court
• Roswell Municipal Court
• Atlanta Municipal Court
• Marietta Municipal Court
• Alpharetta Municipal Court
• Athens Municipal Court (Athens-Clarke County Municipal Court)

MAIN LAW OFFICE IN SANDY
SPRINGS, GEORGIA:

5600 Roswell Rd
Building H, #210
Sandy Springs, GA 30342
(404) 567-5515

MARIETTA, GA LOCATION
in Cobb County, GA:

55 Atlanta Street SE
Suite 400
Marietta, GA 30060
(888) 274-6288

ALPHARETTA-ROSWELL-MILTON
LOCATION
in North Fulton County, GA:

33 S Main St
Suite 302
Alpharetta, GA 30009
(844) 867-2889