Georgia Criminal Defense Blog

A 21-year-old man is facing Dacula theft charges in connection with burglaries in three portable classrooms in Gwinett, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports . Robert Franz Joseph II also faces similar theft charges in Hall County involving break-ins at more than a dozen school trailers in Flowery Branch.

Apparently, in most of the Gwinett incidents, Joseph allegedly stole projectors from the trailers, each worth about $1,000. In the Flowery Branch schools he is accused of stealing 16 laptop computers from 17 portable classrooms at C.W. Davis Middle School. Other schools police say Joseph struck include Collins Hill High School in Suwanee; Lanier Middle School in Buford and Creekland Middle School in Lawrenceville. Joseph is being held without bond on three counts of burglary and 45 counts of theft by receiving.

Continue reading "Suspect in Gwinett and Flowery Branch School Thefts Arrested" »

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Posted In: Theft Crimes

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Atlanta Flacons safety Daren Stone was arrested in downtown Atlanta and charged with driving under the influence, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports . Stone, who was arrested just before sunrise, was released later the same day after posting a $1,591 bond. Stone is the second member of the Falcons team to be arrested in the last one month. The team’s star linebacker, Micharl Boley, was arrested May 3 and charged with battery in a domestic violence case involving his wife.

Criminal charges involving celebrities, especially actors and sports personalities, always draw more attention in the media. At Conaway & Strickler we represent numerous clients – everyday people -- who are arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In the state of Georgia, it is illegal to drive a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more.

Continue reading "Falcon Daren Stone Arrested On Suspicion of DUI" »

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Posted In: DUI Defense

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Three College Park men, who were arrested after leading Cobb County police on a chase into Atlanta, have been charged in connection with the murder of a Mableton man that happened earlier in the day. According to a news article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the men who were accused of shooting and killing 37-year-old Quinton Antonio Denley were -- Donald Hatton, 23; Lincoln Boykins, 18; and Preston Whiting, 21.

Denley was reportedly shot once and killed during a robbery at a home. Later in the day Whiting is said to have got out of a vehicle driven by Hatton and fired several shots at a man walking down a road hitting him once in the lower abdomen. He did not suffer life-threatening injuries. All three men have been charged with felony murder, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Continue reading "Three Men Charged With Murder In Shooting Death" »

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Posted In: Violent Crimes

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A 56-year-old woman is facing Marietta DUI charges after she crashed her 2000 Toyota Avalon through the front window of a martial arts school when six children were in the middle of a class. According to a news report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, none of the students at the Choi Kwang Do East Cobb martial arts school was injured in the crash.

Cherrie Hallen was reportedly in the parking lot at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center when she put her car into drive instead of reverse. She crashed into the school’s classroom after going through some bushes and two brick pillars. The students aged 6 to 11 were shocked, but managed to get out of the room.

Continue reading "Woman Charged With Driving Under The Influence" »

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Posted In: DUI Defense

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In a tragic story that illustrates the very real stakes that we all play with when we get behind the wheel of our cars, Craig Sumter, of Dekalb County, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian on Buford Highway. Sumter plead guilty to charges of vehicular homicide in the October 14th, 2007 death of Rebecca Jakubcin, 34. Rebecca was standing in a turn lane while walking home from dinner when she was struck by Sumter’s vehicle.

Sumter fled the scene following the accident, but police quickly apprehended him at his nearby apartment. At the time of his arrest, officers maintain that he appeared intoxicated. This was not Sumter’s first run in with the law. In 2006 he plead guilty to reckless driving after a prior drunken driving arrest. He had not complied with the terms of his probation in that case, according to a statement from the District Attorney. Under the sentence imposed Monday by Superior Court Judge Daniel Coursey, Sumter will have to serve 5 years probation upon being released from jail.

Continue reading "Dekalb County Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Hit-and-Run Death" »

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John Luke Walker, a 17 year old from Lilburn was indicted this week in the alleged sexual assault of a 14 year old girl he met at a high school party. A Gwinnett grand jury indicted Walker on one count of aggravated child molestation and one count of making false statements. Walker is being held in jail without bond.

Police allege that Walker met the girl at a party on February 17th. He took her to another house and proceeded to rape her. Walker was initially charged with one count each of felony rape, child molestation and making false statements. He was not indicted on the rape charge, but the count of aggravated child molestation alleges that Walker had sex with the victim. The girl was 14 at the time of the incident but has since turned 15.

Continue reading "Brookwood High Student Indicted on Sexual Assault Charges" »

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Posted In: Sex Crime Defense

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Life can be messy. This is the fundamental truth that being an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer has taught me. We all know what living in modern American society is like. Stressed-out, overworked, we all strive to pay the bills, raise our families, find love and happiness, maintain employment, stay away from abusing alcohol or drugs, and somehow keep juggling all the balls of day-to-day life. When a Good Decent Law-Abiding Citizen is arrested, it often means that one of these balls got dropped.

Working with my clients has taught me better than any philosophy class that as human beings we are all innately fallible. As a criminal defense lawyer I have no need to be reminded that “to err is human”– I see it every day. My clients are people like these:

· Sasha, on scholarship to an exclusive private college in Boston. Under pressure to conform to the lifestyles of her wealthy friends, she succumbed to the pressure to shoplift a party dress “just this once.” The store’s policy against selective prosecution landed Sasha in jail and sent her parents frantically seeking legal advice.

· Joe, a contractor, family man, and supporter of his local law-and-order politicians. When the police pulled him over one evening for failing to stop completely at a stop sign, he failed a breathalyzer test and found himself in jail on a Georgia DUI charge.

· Martha, a single woman in her twenties who worked as a bookkeeper. When she resorted to “borrowing” from the company accounts to pay some overdue bills, the company fired her and had her arrested.

· Jerry, a long-distance trucker with a wife and two kids. The pressure to provide “just on time delivery” for his big corporate clients led Jerry to boost his drive time with crystal meth. Stopped for a moving violation, Jerry couldn’t hide the signs of habitual drug use from the officer, who arrested him and took him to jail.

· Bill and Dana, a married couple who got into a fight one night. She got so angry that she threw a glass at him. When he shouted and threw her onto the couch, she called 911. When the police came to find the fight had blown over, but because of a Zero Tolerance arrest policy they still charged Bill with battery and Dana with aggravated assault.

Continue reading "Good Decent Law-Abiding Citizens Not Immune to Facing Georgia Criminal Charges" »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense

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Millions of American citizens are arrested by the police every year: detained, questioned, handcuffed, stuffed into the back of a police cruiser, and thrown in jail. Many of them never expected it to happen to them. These individuals are often shocked to find themselves fighting for their liberties, their reputations, and their futures in the clutches of The Beast – the impersonal, aggressive, bureaucratic, politically-charged, economically-motivated nightmare that is today’s criminal justice system. As America’s criminal justice system becomes ever larger and more powerful, it is time to ask ourselves: what should we be more afraid of? the criminals? or The Beast?

Popularized in a vast array of television shows – “Law and Order,” “CSI,” “Cold Case,” “COPS,” and “Nancy Grace,” to name a few – as white-knight police and prosecutors battling wily criminals with slick defense lawyers, the criminal justice system is widely misunderstood by the average American. The “good guy – bad guy” image is reinforced by politicians of every stripe vowing to be “tough on crime” and by special-interest groups promoting Zero Tolerance policies on the streets, in the schools, and in the workplaces. What most Americans fail to realize is that the effect of our law-and-order political philosophy has been the passage of many more criminal laws, broader definitions of what constitutes a crime, greater restrictions on civil liberties, and harsher punishments.

In the many years of defending individuals charged with crimes, Dan Conaway of Conaway & Strickler, PC has found that most of his clients have never been arrested before, or have had only minor previous infractions. Instead of hardened offenders who know how to “beat the system,” as they are portrayed on the television shows, many people questioned or arrested by the police are just ordinary individuals who have run afoul of the law. They are nearly always terrified, confused, and completely ignorant about what to do next. What’s more, because the ramifications of a conviction – even for a minor offense – have increased exponentially over the past two decades, a single misstep early on can lead to disastrous results.

Continue reading "Navigating the Criminal Justice System Minefield" »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense

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A basic flaw in many people’s thinking is that they can go to court and “talk to the judge about it” or “work things out with the prosecutor.” They believe that because they are not “one of those criminals” and their “case is the exception,” they can convince the prosecutor or judge to drop the criminal charges against them. The truth is very different. Due to Zero Tolerance policing, just about everyone who has been caught doing something the least bit illegal is now ending up in the courtroom. As a result, your general good character is not going to convince a judge or prosecutor to give you a break. When you walk into the courtroom, no matter who you are, the judge and prosecutor see you as just another criminal defendant, another piece of meat to feed to The Beast.

First, courtrooms are more crowded than ever before, and judges and prosecutors are often overworked and overwhelmed. America’s criminal justice system has grown into a huge industry – the “prison-industrial complex” -- that provides millions of jobs and massive amounts of tax revenue for states and counties. Criminal justice is the one area besides the military where politicians today can advocate for bigger government and more taxes and get elected.

Second, prosecutors and judges no longer have the independence to exercise discretion in prosecution and sentencing that they had a generation ago. Powerful special interest groups spend millions of dollars monitoring conviction rates of judges and prosecutors across the country. Officials who do not live up to the conviction targets of organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) face a very real threat of losing the next election. If you appear in their courtroom and they show you any leniency, their jobs may be on the line.

Continue reading "Experienced Criminal Defense Attorneys Give You Best Chance To Win Your Case" »

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Posted In: Criminal Defense

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Thanks to the information superhighway, having even a single conviction on your record can make it difficult or impossible for you to get a job, a bank loan, or a place to live. Your record is easy to access and will follow you across the country and around the world. The idea that someone convicted of an Atlanta crime can be rehabilitated and “start over” has become a thing of the past.

Finding a job with a conviction on your record has become much harder than it used to be. Corporate employers and franchisers employ companies that specialize in doing computer background checks to “weed out criminals.” These big corporate employers are not like the local mom-and-pop businesses that once might have given you a second chance. If you have a crime on your record, there is an excellent chance you won’t be hired.

Even high-ranking government officials may have trouble reentering the workforce following a criminal conviction. Former Assistant Attorney General Webster Hubbell went to jail for refusing to testify against President Clinton. When he got out, his troubles were not over. He found that many companies will not hire a convicted felon because their insurers will drop their coverage if they do. Insurance companies also may decline to issue necessary coverage – such as property or malpractice insurance – to someone with a criminal record who wants to start their own business.

The Internet leaves those with a conviction – or even an arrest – on their record vulnerable to retaliatory attack. Today we are seeing the rise of the cyber-vigilante, who posts information about people’s private criminal information on-line. In cyberspace, there are no secrets and no second chances.

Call the Georgia Criminal defense attorneys at Conaway & Strickler, PC now to avoid a conviction.

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Legislators in South Carolina have a signed a bill that will raise the maximum jail time for DUI offenders from five to seven years, impose tougher penalties for motorists who refuse to take a field sobriety test and increase the punishment for those who have a blood alcohol content higher then the legal limit. Legislators believe that this new law will “improve the DUI conviction rate and make the prosecution process easier for the department and the prosecutors,” according to an article in the Augusta Chronicle ().

The law will become effective in February. Among other things, this law will also stop requiring officers to have to read the Miranda’s rights three times. According to police officers, that provided a way out for offenders who would avoid conviction by pointing out that the arresting officer missed one reading. The law would also get rid of community service as a sentencing option for repeat offenders. In addition, suspects who refuse to take a blood alcohol test could have their license suspended for six months instead of 90 days.

Continue reading "States Impose Tougher DUI Laws" »

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Posted In: DUI Defense

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A Carrolton dentist is facing a 12-count indictment, including three felonies, alleging that he assaulted patients when they were sedated. According to an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 55-year-old Dr. Gordon Trent Austin faces nine counts of simple battery, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of first-degree child cruelty. The incidents reportedly involved eight patients.

One of those patients filed a lawsuit against the dentist March 26 alleging he was physically abusive to her during a visit in May 2006. The suit accuses Austin of extracting the patient’s teeth without sufficient anesthesia and then hitting her in the face with a heavy metal object when she tried to resist. Austin’s defense attorney is saying that the woman’s account of events in the civil lawsuit, are “erroneous.”

The violent crime defense attorney says his client has a spotless track record of serving as a doctor in the community. Austin is of course innocent until proven guilty and that’s what many of us forget when it comes to criminal cases. Accusations that are horrible are just that – accusations. No one has testified to them under oath. Allegations are just statements made by people until they are proved in a court of law before a judge or a jury.

Continue reading "Georgia Dentist Accused of Assaulting Sedated Patients" »

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Posted In: Sex Crime Defense

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