Client speeding on the interstate, smelled of alcohol, failed roadside tests, acquitted by the jury:
My client was pulled over for speeding on the interstate by one of the county’s most experienced DUI task force specialists. The officer arrested my client for DUI after administering all the standard roadside sobriety tests. At a jury trial, the officer testified that my client’s performance on the tests indicated to her that my client had consumed alcohol to an extent that she was a less safe driver. Although she fought tooth and nail on cross-examination, I was able to show the jury how subjective and flawed the tests were in this case. The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty of DUI.

DUI-Marijuana – Arrested with a blunt roach in the car, acquitted by the jury:
My client was stopped at a roadblock. A state patrol officer with extensive DUI training determined that he was under the influence of marijuana. He made that decision based on the smell of marijuana allegedly coming from my client, the blunt roach in the cupholder, and my client’s performance on several roadside tests. The trooper also testified at trial that my client admitted smoking marijuana, though when the dashcam video played at trial and I had a chance to cross-examine him, it was clear that the trooper was making assumptions not fully supported by the evidence. At the end of a long, hard-fought day, the jury acquitted my client.​

.17 Blood-alcohol content, knocking on the door of the wrong house, reduced to Reckless Driving:
Police approached my client, who was knocking at the door of someone who said they had never seen my client before. My client appeared disoriented, and her car was parked–more or less–in the stranger’s yard. She was arrested for DUI and blew a .17 at the jail, more than double the legal limit. I reviewed the evidence in the case and found several issues where the arresting officer did not strictly follow standardized DUI training and did not strictly comply with South Carolina law on administering the breath test machine. I was ready to fight the case, and was able to get the prosecutor to offer a plea agreement to the reduced charge of reckless driving. My client took the deal and was satisfied with the result.

Passed out at the wheel, acquitted by the jury:
My client was asleep in the driver’s seat with the car on in a parking lot. Legally, the police don’t actually have to observe you driving to arrest you for driving under the influence, and you don’t have to be on a public road either. My client did not look good on video, and the fact that the man in the passenger seat had nearly an ounce of marijuana in his pocket didn’t help his case. But the question for the jury was whether my client was in control of his vehicle while intoxicated, or if there was another explanation for what the officer observed. The jury decided there was reasonable doubt and returned a Not Guilty verdict.

.18 Blood-alcohol content, “admitted” to drinking and driving, acquitted by the jury:
My client was admitted to the hospital following a very bad auto accident. The investigating officer spoke to her while she was being treated, and she allegedly made statements admitting to drinking and driving. Her blood was drawn, and a forensic toxicologist testified that her blood alcohol content was .18. I cross-examined the officer on his conversation with my client and argued to the jury that something more was going on here. They found my client Not Guilty of all charges.

.228 Blood-alcohol content, involved in head-on collision, charge reduced to Reckless Driving
My client was involved in a head-on collision in the wrong lane of traffic. Police arrived, and he told them: “I’m in the wrong,” “I’m going to admit to DUI,” “I’m going to jail, I know that,” “You know I can’t pass” any field sobriety tests. An analysis of his blood revealed a .228 Blood-alcohol content. I filed motions to dismiss the case and throw out the blood result based on technicalities in South Carolina DUI law. Eventually, the prosecutor offered to reduce the charge to Reckless Driving. My client took the deal and was satisfied with the result.

Home invasion armed robbery, Not Guilty after a jury trial:
My client was charged with two counts of Armed Robbery, one count of Burglary, and three counts of Aggravated Assault. The victims, two senior citizens, were attacked at their home by men in masks who pointed guns at them, pistol-whipped them, and robbed them of money and other possessions. The victims identified to police a suspect who had been fired that morning from the business the victims ran out of their home. Cell phone records placed my client in the general area of the crime. After a week-long jury trial at which the victim’s perceptions were challenged and the flaws in the cell phone records were revealed, a unanimous verdict of Not Guilty on all counts was returned.

Stabbing in self-defense, dismissed:
My client was charged with stabbing his neighbor in the hand with a butcher knife, leaving a large wound that required a trip to the hospital. When questioned by police, he said he was defending his wife from his neighbor, who was being drunk and aggressive. The police didn’t believe him and arrested him for Aggravated Assault. After preparing the case for trial and standing firm and announcing “ready for trial” on several different court dates, the State finally backed down and dismissed the case.

Six counts of armed robbery, straight probation:
My client was arrested on the scene after another suspect stashed stolen handbags and wallets in my client’s car and ran off. Police were already there, having responded to a convenience store next door where several customers were robbed at gunpoint. Police investigated and decided that my client, who in the driver’s seat with the car on and ready to go, was an accomplice, and just as guilty of armed robbery as the other suspect under the “party to a crime” law. I aggressively prepared the case for a jury trial, and as court dates came and went with the defense not backing down, the plea offer dropped from 10 years in prison, to 2 years in prison, to a sentence of straight probation. My client was willing to take it to avoid the risks of a jury trial and was satisfied with the result.

• My client was arrested for criminal trespass after allegedly breaking his fiancée’s window. Based on his criminal record, the case caught the attention of the prosecution’s “special victims unit.” This unit is known for often refusing to drop cases and often seeking high jail sentences. After demonstrating a willingness to take the case to trial at several court dates, the State finally backed down and dismissed the case.​

• My client was arrested for battery against his wife. The prosecution initially tried to upgrade the charge to a felony, but when they were unable to do so, they decided to press hard and charged him with three different misdemeanors. They wanted him to plead guilty as charged and go to jail for six months followed by two and a half years of reporting probation. They insisted that if we went to trial and lost, they’d ask for more jail time. I filed several motions and aggressively prepared the case for trial. On the morning of jury selection, the prosecution reevaluated their case and made a new offer considering the work I’d done: they’d reduce the charges to one count of criminal trespass, and the sentence would be a straight sentence of non-reporting probation, no jail time. My client decided to take the deal and was satisfied with the result.

• My client was charged with aggravated assault and cruelty to children in the first degree, both felonies, after the police arrested him for disciplining his girlfriend’s child. At play in the case were issues of the child’s credibility and of what was considered reasonable child discipline. We were able to negotiate a result where the original charges were dropped if my client would plead “no contest” to simple battery, a misdemeanor, and agree to receive a straight probation sentence. He took the deal and was satisfied with the result.

Charged with a new felony while on first offender probation in Georgia, warrant dismissed and reinstated:
My client was on first offender probation for robbery. She was arrested for a new felony involving a stolen check being fraudulently cashed. After her arrest, I began by investigating the new felony case and urging the prosecutor to dismiss it, which they ultimately did. We weren’t done, as your probation can be violated for new charges even when they’re dismissed based on the lower standard of evidence at play in probation hearings. At my client’s court date, I convinced probation and the State to withdraw the warrant, let her out of jail and back onto probation, and reinstate her first offender status.

Violated for not reporting and convicted of giving a false name while on probation, released after being revoked for time served, case closed:
My client had already been revoked for a year in prison for violating probation once before. After his release from prison, he went back on probation, but didn’t have a perfect report record. Worse yet, he was arrested for (and convicted of) giving a false name to police while on probation. When we went in front of the judge, the State wanted him to go back to prison for a year (he had about a year and a half left on probation). I was able to detail the good things my client had done to stay in compliance at first and explain the difficulties he was having in his life that led him to not keep up with it. At the end of the hearing, the judge decided to only revoke my client for time served, terminate the remainder of the probation sentence, and release him.

Unemployment fraud, $5,000+ in losses alleged, dismissed on a technicality:
My client was charged with violating the Georgia Employment Security Law (unemployment fraud). The State alleged that several years prior, my client had underreported her income and defrauded the State of several thousand dollars. They wanted her to plead guilty to a felony and pay it all back on probation. As I prepared the case for trial I noticed that the State put a couple of extra words in the indictment. They thought they had properly used an exception to the four-year statute of limitations, but the wording of the indictment meant they hadn’t done so and the case had to be thrown out, keeping my client’s record clean and ensuring that she was not criminally liable for any alleged overpaid money.

Theft by Conversion, dismissed after pretrial motions:
My client was a trucker who stopped to stay the night in a hotel. He woke up in the middle of the night to police questioning him about why drug addicts were taking everything out of his truck in the middle of the night. They alleged that he had opened up his truck in exchange for drugs, even though no drugs were found in his hotel room. He was charged with Theft by Conversion. They alleged that he confessed in the back of the police car, even though no formal written or audio-recorded statement was taken. The State wanted him to go to prison for four years based on a very old (but admittedly serious) felony on his record that he had successfully rebounded from. I prepared the case for trial and filed a pretrial motion to throw out the alleged confession based on there being no probable cause to arrest him in the first place. The judge agreed, and the State was forced to dismiss the case before trial.

31 counts of computer fraud, $15,000+ in losses alleged, straight probation:
My client was charged with 31 counts of computer fraud, and the maximum punishment was 465 years in prison. The State alleged that over the course of more than a year, he tricked ATM machines into accepting fraudulent deposits that he would then immediately withdraw cash from before the fraud was discovered. In reviewing the evidence, we determined it was not a good case for trial. The State wanted him to plead guilty and accept five years in prison and pay back over $15,000 while on ten years of probation upon his release. We decided to enter a non-negotiated plea instead, and I convinced the judge to hand down a sentence of straight probation.

• My client was the passenger in a car that was pulled over after leaving an apartment that was being surveilled by a drug task force. The officer searched the car after claiming to smell marijuana. A near-trafficking amount of marijuana and a loaded pistol was inside a backpack at my client’s feet. I filed a motion to throw the evidence out based on a violation of my client’s 4th Amendment rights against illegal searches and seizures. The motion was denied, but I appealed the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which reversed the case and tossed the evidence out. The case was ultimately dismissed. You can read the decision from the Court of Appeals online by clicking here.

• My client was a high school student who had her bag searched at school. She was charged with a felony after a pocket knife with a blade longer than two inches was found in her bag. I met her at her first court date and quickly identified a legal issue with the way her bag was searched. I spoke to the prosecutor and asked him to dismiss the case based on the search violating my client’s rights. He took a closer look at the case and dismissed it the next day.

• My client was arrested after complaint calls were made concerning his behavior at a hotel. He was arrested and violently resisted arrest, repeatedly kicking the officers. Meth was found on his person. He was charged with felony drug possession and felony obstruction. His behavior at the hotel was not his finest hour, but there was a legal question of whether it amounted to a valid reason to arrest him. I raised this issue with the prosecutor and was able to convince him to drop the drug charge if my client entered a plea to a misdemeanor obstruction charge. My client took the deal and was ultimately satisfied with the result.

Identity stolen, arrested, ultimately cleared:
My client’s identity was stolen and her former friend used her name to sign for a traffic ticket that the friend never paid. When the friend didn’t pay, Georgia suspended my client’s license, which she didn’t learn until years later when she was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction of her own. She was arrested and charged with driving on a suspended license. It required some investigation into the friend’s encounter with the police to prove that identity fraud had in fact occurred, but once that was cleared up, I was able to show the prosecutor that my client’s suspended license charge should be dismissed and her arrest record expunged. The minor traffic ticket my client received when she was arrested was dismissed as well for good measure.

Officer’s ticket-writing abilities fail to stand up to cross-examination, case dismissed:
My client got a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian at a four-way intersection. The pedestrian had already crossed the lane of traffic that my client was turning into, so there was no risk of hitting the pedestrian. The law is written poorly, but I knew my client was in the right and the cop was in the wrong. We had a trial in traffic court, and before I could finish my cross-examination of the officer, the prosecutor gave up and dismissed the ticket.

Charged with disorderly conduct, acquitted at a bench trial:
My client was cited for disorderly conduct based on a fight at an apartment complex. The judge had convicted a young man who was cited for the same incident just prior to our case being called. Cross-examination of the officer revealed that any evidence that might client was involved was all based on hearsay. The judge found my client Not Guilty.

Charged with pointing a pistol, dismissed without charges being filed:
My client was arrested for pointing a pistol at her stepfather. The events took place during a stressful family dispute and the allegations against my client were exaggerated and left out the ways that the other party, who was arrested himself, provoked her. After presenting our side of the events to the prosecutor, the case was dismissed without formal charges.