Drunk Driving Cases
Attorney William C. Head
Case 01
State v. D.W.
City Court of Atlanta
D.W. was a former New York
resident with a long history of psychiatric problems.
He and a neighbor were at the neighbors condo working
on a computer software problem all day before stopping
for pizza and a few beers late in the evening.
D.W. was taking prescribed
medication for his "manic-depressive" (bipolar)
condition. After he and the friend finished work, he was
supposed to go upstairs to his condo. Although he only
had a beer and a half, he had taken his medications that
were prescribed for bipolar disorder. These medications
were Halcion, Lithium, and Paxil.
Instead of going to bed,
he decided to go to his girlfriend's condo. He took her
Toyota Camry which was at his condo location. When he
got to her gate, he found that she was not home from work
yet. He tried to "key in" her access code, but
the gate would not open. In a haze and totally frustrated,
he backed up the Camry and rammed the metal and brick
gate. The front end of the Camry became wedged in the
massive steel gate. He tried to dislodge it by putting
the car in reverse and drive--dragging the heavy gate
back and forth. Needless to say, the entire condo complex
was soon awake (prior to D.W. freeing his car).
He backed out and sped away
from the scene, leaving most of Toyota's bumper and front
end parts behind. Both headlights were broken and not
working.
As he came to a red light
at the 400 loop, he ignored the red signal and turned
left toward Peachtree Street. A police car that had been
dispatched to the "gate dragging" location nearly
broadsided his damaged Toyota vehicle as D.W. ran through
the red light.
The police car got behind
the Toyota just as D.W. swerved wide and ran up on to
the curb of the 400 looop. D.W. pulled into the parking
lot of the Ritz-Carlton/Buckhead in response to the officer's
blue lights.
D.W. stepped out of the Toyota,
holding on to the top of the driver's door and the top
of the vehicle. When he did, his pants fell to the ground.
No field tests were possible. D.W. refused to take ANY
breath tests for the two officers.
At trial, the officer testified
that there was a 1/2 beer open and sitting in the center
console of D.W.'s vehicle. He testified that he could
smell the odor of alcohol on D.W.'s breath. He also testified,
on cross-examination by Mr. Head, that he had NEVER seen
anyone so "wasted" in his life. Further cross-examination
revealed that the officer had no training in "drug
recognition" symptoms. The officer also said that
he never asked D.W. if he had consumed any medications
The condo neighbor, D.W.'s
girlfriend, and a medical doctor testified at the jury
trial. Our sole defense to the "DUI-alcohol"
charge was that he was not under the influence of ALCOHOL,
because he had only consumed 1 1/2 beers at the most.
We argued that he was impaired by PRESCRIPTION DRUGS and
that he was not accused of "DUI-DRUGS."
The jury acquitted D.W. of
the DUI offense.
