Under a new law passed by the Georgia Legislature, a filing fee of $150 must now be paid when requesting a hearing on the administrative license issue. In Georgia, if you refuse to take the state chemical test of blood, breath ,or urine, or register above the legal limit(.02 for under 21s, .04 for commercial drivers, and .08 for over 21s), the officer can attempt to suspend your license administratively. If you do not send in a letter requesting a hearing within 10 business days, your license is automatically suspended.

Many folks have a hard time understanding the license suspension process in the first place. Now with the requirment of paying a fee for a hearing, the matter gets even more complicated.

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I see where MADD of Georgia will be handing out their annual Law Enforcement awards in March. I have no problems with MADD recognizing police officers for their work, but as with many things a radical political group does, these awards are based on arrestsnot convictions.
MADD, of course, believes that anyone who is arrested for DUI is guilty(no due process for MADD), and that is why only the arrest numbers matter to MADD, not the convictions.

In talking with one of my State trooper friends, I asked him how some of the cops can have well over 200 arrests; simple: if they charge somone with DUI less safe and DUI per se, that is 2 DUI arrests, even though of course they can only be sentenced on one conviction.

You may have seen where Mel Gibson was able to have his DUI arrest deleted or expunged. Anytime someone is arrested and fingerprinted, that arrest goes on both a State and Federal computer records system. The DUI arrest stays on the criminal history forever, unless it is expunged. Many folks call me and ask if their DUI arrest can be expunged. The answer, at least for Georgia, is NO. (more…)