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As the massive migration of remote work has changed the lives of neighborhoods throughout the metropolitan region, vehicles have become a very convenient way of people to escape a congested house. It is becoming more of a norm to be sitting in a parked car in your driveway, with the engine on to have the air conditioner or the heat have air flowing over it, and pick up the phone or just have a drink after a hard day. The majority of individuals can believe that due to the fact that the vehicle is parked on the personal residential area and they have no intention of traversing an open road in any way, they are fully exempt of the normal traffic regulations. Nonetheless, according to the law of actual physical control, this particular scenario is considered in Georgia as a serious crime. One of the most important things that one needs when all the tranquil moments at home are interrupted by criminal arrest is to seek the services of an experienced Atlanta DUI Lawyer to ensure your rights, your freedom, and your driving license are not restricted.
The outrage of parked car DUI is based on a basic misconception of O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-391 by the masses. In the state law, it is a hard-core offence to operate or be in the actual physical control of any moving vehicle when under the influence of alcohol or drugs. During the years, Georgia courts have taken actual physical control to the most extreme meaning. It does not mean that you must be in motion, in gear, or even awake to be criminally charged. When you are sitting in the driver seat with the keys in the ignition- or when it comes to vehicles with push to start technology, they just have the key fob in the cabin- the prosecutors and law enforcement will strongly assert that you had the current, immediate means to use the car. A police officer can therefore respond to a noise complaint or he/she is just walking around your subdivision, can approach your driveway, see you in the vehicle and proceed with a complete DUI investigation.
After an officer has a suspicion that he or she is impaired, it resembles a typical roadside checkstop on an interstate. You will be requested to get out of your car and undergo Standardized Field sobriety Tests right in your driveway. These tests such as the Walk and Turn and the One Leg Stand are well known to be subjective and they are hard to carry out in the best of circumstances. Carrying out such tests in the dark, on a sloping, cracked or uneven residential driveway strongly prejudices the physical evidence against the prosecution. In an event that the officer concludes that there is probable cause, you will be arrested as a result of DUI, your vehicle can be impounded legally off your premises, and there will be the imminent risk of an administrative suspension of your license. Managing the chaotic and in the moment post arrest process on your own ground without the tactical intervention of a commissioned Atlanta DUI Attorney would be a futile endeavor to address the legitimacy of the initial approach of the officer and the legitimacy of the next step investigation.
The case against a parked car DUI needs a systematic approach to overturning the official case on actual physical control and criminal intent. A good legal defense case is usually focused on the vehicle was being utilized as a mere shelter and not as a form of transportation. In the event that the car had been proved to be parked in the night or blocked by other family vehicles or simply unable to move because of mechanical reasons, the defense may claim that the driver did not have the real physical capability to drive safely on a public road. Besides, the place of arrest is a key element in the courtroom. Although the law of DUI is used in all states on both the state and privately owned land, some aspects of the law like police right to enter your private driveway to inspect your private property and make a criminal investigation are vigorously opposed by means of pretrial motions to suppress the evidence provided by the state.
Making a parking car arrest look like a mere misunderstanding or local jurisdictional abuse is a disastrous misjudgment that many residents fall to. Georgia will have an equal zeal to prosecute such stationary cases as a high-speed interstate DUI, demanding mandatory jail sentences, excessive fines, mandatory risk management courses, and revoked licenses in the long term. More so, the conviction will create a permanent criminal history that may seriously harm your corporate job opportunities and raise your monthly auto insurance rates dramatically. Winning such counterintuitive charges requires an aggressive and proactive approach on the legal front. Anyone who is charged with the fact of being in the reckless intoxicated charge of a parked vehicle should promptly seek to defend himself or herself before it is too late to have a carefree rest in the comfort of his or her own driveway before it destroys his or her personal and career future.
