Procedural Mistakes: Miranda Rights

Although the law does not require a reading of your Miranda Rights just because you have been arrested, if an officer continues to question you after your arrest, many statements may be excludable. Typical questions include those about how much a motorist has had to drink and whether he has ever been arrested for DUI before.  Unlike most states, in Georgia an officer must also read the Miranda warning to a person if he or she is in custody before any field sobriety tests are performed.  For example, if an officer tells you that you are going to jail because your license is suspended or because you left the scene of an accident, he should have to read the Miranda warning to you before performing the horizontal gaze nystagmus, walk and turn, or other field sobriety tests.  If he fails to do so, the results of these tests should be suppressed.

More Strategies to Fight DUI in GA

Improper Stops

• Tips or Anonymous Calls
• Mistake of law
• Failure to maintain lane
• Stopping the wrong car
• Stopping for a hunch or just felt like it
• Stopping a vehicle for a different reason than the officer claims

Improper Arrest

• Improperly Administered Field Sobriety Tests
• Coerced Field Sobriety Tests
• Medical-Physical Conditions
• Illegal Extension of Stop
• Videos Don't Support Arrest Report

Improper Blood Test

• Proper Request
• Statutory Requirements
• Lab Mistakes

Improper Breath Test

• Rules
• Certification
• Certification of Machine
• Interferents
• Machine Not Calibrated
• Machine Malfunction

Procedural Mistakes

• Implied Consent Warning
• Witness Appearance
• Inconsistent Statements by Law Enforcement Officer
• Expert Witness