The Defendant and others were attending a party at Chehaw Park. Defendant got into an argument with someone from another group. As Defendant was going to Defendant’s car, Defendant heard gun shots. Everyone jumped into their cars and fled the scene, including Defendant. On the way out of the park, Defendant lost control of the car and hit a fence post. While backing off the post, Defendant backed into another car. Although everyone agreed that someone else fired the gun, the State believed Defendant had something to do with it and so was arrested for 2 counts of Aggravated Assault (2 guys got shot) and one count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. Then, since the State already believed Defendant was a bad guy, they arrested Defendant for the traffic accident and charged Defendant with 2 counts of Criminal Damage to Property in the Second Degree (the post and the car). All total, Defendant was facing 55 years in prison.

During our investigation, we discovered there was no evidence the defendant had anything to do with the shooting other than an argument with one of the victims (clearly not enough to make Defendant a party to the shooting). Thus, we felt confident on going to trial. However, to top it off, we also discovered that the shooting took place just yards inside the Lee County line, which meant Dougherty County could not convict anyone of the shooting. When we produced our witness list to the State (as required), they discovered a witness would prove where the county line was. On the eve of trial, the State dismissed the 2 Aggravated Assault charges and the Possession of a Firearm charge.

That left us with the traffic accident. We obtained a video from a security camera that clearly showed that the defendant lost control of a car and hit the post. We felt the State could not prove intent. Additionally, the video showed that the driver of the car lied about how the accident happened and what the damages were. She was just trying to get prior damage to her car fixed by saying the defendant did it. On the morning of trial, the State offered a plea to Leaving the Scene of an Accident. Even though we felt confident we could win, because the State would be unable to prove sufficient damages to trigger the threshold for the crime, Defendant took the plea to avoid the risk of trial. However, the potential of 55 years in prison ended up as just 12 months probation, and Defendant went home!

A Worth county case involving Possession of Marijuana was dismissed after we transferred the case to State Court. The Defendant was stopped at a roadblock and accused of possessing marijuana. The case was brought in municipal court, but we filed a Demand to Transfer the case to State Court. The State Court decided not to pick the case up for prosecution.

A Worth county case involving Possession of Marijuana was dismissed after we kept the case from going to trial. The Defendant was accused of possessing marijuana. For various reasons, the case continued for several years. Eventually, due to the lack of key supporting witnesses, the prosecution finally dismissed the case.

A Lowndes county case involving Terroristic Threats was dismissed after we convinced the prosecutor to not pursue the Indictment.

The defendant was charged with Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute. Defendant began the process of hiring us and desired to finance the fee. As with all potential clients that are in the process of financing fees, we monitored the case to ensure the defendant was protected, even though we were not yet officially on the case. A Committal Hearing was previously scheduled by the current attorney, the one we would be replacing. These hearings are rarely won and not typically set in the first place by other attorneys, but since it had been set, we wanted to make sure that our future client was protected. To ensure that everything went smoothly, our legal assistant was sent to the hearing, who made it known why we were making a presence there. The case was thereafter dismissed.

A Crisp county case involving Drugs was dismissed after we refused to plea. The Defendant caught a ride from Florida to Atlanta to attend a concert. At some point, he took over driving so the owner of the vehicle could get some rest. They were subsequently pulled over due to the owner and front seat passenger not wearing a seat belt. The officer claimed he detected the odor of marijuana. He also believed the owner of the vehicle appeared nervous and was protecting a bag he had between his feet. When the officer went back to his car to run the tags and licenses, he claimed he saw the owner and back seat passenger moving about. When the officer returned, the bag was missing. A subsequent search of the trunk found the bag in the trunk. Contained in the bag was drugs. No one claimed the drugs so all occupants were arrested and charged. A search of the female back­seat passenger’s handbag also produced a small amount of marijuana. The Defendant held out for trial asserting that the officer never saw him moving about, and nothing in the bag connected it to him. Under Georgia’s equal access rule, the state must prove a connection. After the owner pled to the contents of the bag and the female pled to the marijuana found in her purse, the state relented and dismissed the charges against the Defendant.