Athens Georgia Criminal Defense Law Blog

A University of Georgia student driving down Athens' Arch Street on a recent Sunday morning was pulled over after a police officer saw the student's car bump into the curb.

The 23-year-old student was asked to perform field sobriety tests, according to the police report posted by the Red & Black. He was later arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

A proposal by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to reduce the prison population would divert prisoners committing non-violent drug offenses to alternative treatment programs.

The estimated cost to taxpayers in Athens and around the state would be $10 million.

Athens-Clarke County police say the trouble for one University of Georgia student began with an egg. Rather than making a cooking error, he might have made an error in judgment.

The 19-year-old UGA student was arrested last weekend for underage possession of alcohol, as well as marijuana possession. Police said they met the student on the third floor of the Georgian apartments after they'd been summoned by someone reporting that their car had been egged from an upstairs apartment window.

According to a University of Georgia Police report, two UGA students were arrested in Athens and charged for underage possession of alcohol and possession of a fake ID.

While on foot patrol, an officer noticed two females, one 18 years old and the other 19 years old, urinating behind a trash can in the Hull Street employee lot. According to the report, the officer approached the females while they were still urinating.

The news media is known for sensationalizing stories of arrests and then promptly forgetting about the cases, rarely following up to report on trials, plea deals or dismissals.

In a departure from this tradition, the Red & Black recently ran an article following up on University of Georgia students who had previously been in the news for their arrests for DUI, possession of marijuana and other alleged offenses, letting readers know of the current status of their cases.

People in Athens and elsewhere in Georgia may be familiar with the use of ignition interlocks to deter a repeat DUI offense. Over the years, the use of ignition interlocks has grown but the situations in which ignition interlocks are required in some states has some groups worried that the use is starting to go too far.

Ignition interlocks are designed to stop a car from starting if a driver who blows into the device has had alcohol. Cameras have also been added to the devices in order to prevent drivers from having sober passengers blow into the device. Georgia is among a group of 24 states that use the devices. While Georgia generally requires the device when a driver is convicted of a second DUI, fifteen states require ignition interlocks after a first offense.

Some say the growing trend among states is to mandate ignition interlocks after a driver's first DUI offense. The trend has some groups worried about the fairness of the system. One such group is the American Beverage Institute. The American Beverage Institute is anxious about the use of ignition interlocks and the lack of a judge's ruling in some cases because the trade group wants to draw attention to the distinction between a driver who is slightly over the legal limit and a driver who is way beyond the limit.

The Athens Banner-Herald is reporting that the use of so-called synthetic marijuana, widely known as Spice or K2, is an increasing problem in the U.S. military.

While Spice is legal to possess in a number of states, Georgia is not one of them. Possession of Spice is just as illegal here as marijuana possession.

At this time of year, it's not unusual for police departments to join forces to crack down on drunk driving. So it's not surprising that the Athens-Clarke County traffic unit and the Georgia State Police recently teamed up on a checkpoint on Prince Avenue.

Of the 143 people stopped at the Prince Avenue checkpoint, nine were arrested for DUI.