A DUI doesn’t sound very pleasant, but one that involves a child in the car, can be really serious for the driver. DUI with a child passenger is not taken lightly in Georgia. Can be a separate child endangerment issue, extra exposure to punishment, extra risk on driver’s license, and personal consequences after court.

This type of case should be looked at promptly by an Atlanta DUI Lawyer. A common DUI defense is not always sufficient as the state can use the child passenger to make the case seem more emotional and worse. An Atlanta DUI Attorney will review to see if the underlying DUI accusation is weak and thus the child endangerment element is as well.

A person who engages in driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs while transporting a child under the age of 14 shall be held guilty of a separate offense of endangering a child. That is, the child passenger does not make the DUI worse. It may impose an additional fee.

Hence the first check is the age of the child. The Georgia DUI child endangerment rule is for a child under 14 years of age. In certain instances, the particular DUI child endangerment provision may not be applicable if the passenger was 14 or more years of age. A DUI Lawyer Atlanta will take the time to examine the police report, birthdate information, charging document and the extent to which the prosecutor charged the case correctly.

The second piece of evidence that the state will want to examine is whether or not the state can prove DUI. The child endangerment charge is related to the DUI charge. When the DUI is dismissed, reduced or successfully challenged, the child endangerment theory might be more difficult for the state to sustain. A DUI Attorney Atlanta will very likely review the stop, field sobriety tests, blood test, breath test, implied consent notice and the officer’s body camera footage.

These cases can occur in the normal family setting. A parent can be driving home from dinner, picking up a child from a relative, leaving a school event or running an errand. The ticket can be a minor infraction, like a speeding ticket, a lane violation, a rolling stop, or a traffic accident. The moment that an officer observes a child in the car, the tone of the investigation can quickly shift.

That’s an emotional one that counts. A DUI involving a child passenger can be viewed differently by the prosecution, court and probation officer. The driver can feel judged as a parent or a caretaker even before he or she is convicted. An Atlanta DUI Attorney will help to keep the focus on evidence instead of emotions. The question isn’t “Is the situation bad?” Whether the state can establish all the elements of the charge.

The number of children is one of the problems: does the child endanger count in with the DUI? However, Georgia law states that the child endangerment charge does not run with the DUI for prosecution or sentencing. In layman’s terms, this means that the driver could receive sanctions for the drunk driving charge, and also sanctions for the child endangerment charge. An Atlanta DUI Attorney will be able to help them understand that for negotiation, plea discussion, trial strategy, and sentencing risk.

Things can get even messier if there were more than one child in the vehicle. Prosecutor has the ability to consider each child as an independent charge. It can end up being one traffic stop that has multiple counts. A DUI Lawyer Atlanta can look at exactly the way the case has been charged and just how the state is going too far.

A child passenger also may impact license repercussions. The first DUI conviction is a problem for Georgia drivers, and repeated DUI offenses can compound the damage. A DUI Attorney Atlanta can help the driver understand both courses of action since this will make the comparison of the criminal court risk versus the administrative license suspension issue.

Family repercussions are also possible. If a parent is arrested for DUI and has children in the vehicle, it may create issues related to child custody, child care or child welfare. This is not to say that every case constitutes a family court emergency, but it certainly is a case the defense should be treated with care. A plea, final charge and the official record may be important later.

A strong defense could question the traffic stop, the officer’s observations, the field sobriety tests, the chemical tests, implied consent, probable cause, and the link between the suspected impairment and driving. The defense also may want to check if the child’s age was properly recorded and if the state prosecuted the right offense.

The key takeaway is this: the stakes are raised for the kid in the vehicle, but not the burden of proof is diminished for the state. The driver is still able to contest the DUI, contest the added count, and prove the case to the government.

If you are arrested for DUI in Atlanta with a child in the vehicle, move quickly! James Yeargan and/or another qualified defense attorney can discuss the arrest facts, the child passenger issue, the end of the license, and defense options. An Atlanta DUI Lawyer can help the driver to shield himself from a case that could ultimately grow into something significantly larger than one DUI arrest.