A Fulton County Magistrate Judge denied bond on Thursday for Chasity Jones, who stands accused of striking and killing Senior Atlanta Police Officer Gail Thomas while under the influence of alcohol late Tuesday night. Magistrate Judge Jessy Lall set bond on Jones’ two misdemeanor charges, but refused to issue a bond on the felony vehicular homicide charge in a story reported on the AJC.com website.
Officer Thomas was struck and killed while attempting to help investigate an earlier vehicle wreck near the I-75/85 Brookwood Interchange in Atlanta. It was reported that Jones, who refused further breath or blood testing after her arrest, did take a breath test at the scene, registering at a .16. Officers were still able to obtain a search warrant and conducted a blood draw on the suspect.
Under Georgia law, a magistrate court may set a bond on all but a few offenses. While a vehicular homicide/DUI charge is eligible for bond without the signature of a Superior Court Judge, either Fulton County policy, or the suspect’s history and other factors may have been relevant in the magistrate denying her bond. This means the case will now be put in front of a Superior Court Judge that will decide on whether a bond will issue, amongst other things.
While the first stories report that Jones took a breath test at the scene and registered at almost twice the legal limit, these hand held breath tests are only admissible in Georgia courts for the limited purpose of showing whether a suspect was positive or negative for alcohol. While the devices, commonly known as PBT’s, do show a numeric value to the officer, the results are not admissible in hearings or at trial. Frequently, these small, hand-held devices go months without any calibration or inspection. The devices are typically used only as one of a battery of tests to determine if a driver is impaired by alcohol.
The decision to set a bond is in the hands of a Judge and bonds may be set on vehicular homicide cases without the signature of a Superior Court Judge. Frequently on DUI charges not involving an injury or death, a bond is set without even going in front of a Judge, which begs the question: should DUI suspects be required to go in front of a Judge to determine whether or not they will be released, and under what conditions? What factors would you consider in deciding whether or not to release a suspect on a bond?
For more information on Georgia’s different breath tests used in DUI arrests, read this.
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Defense lawyers frequently argue that tests used by the police to measure blood alcohol levels in women are flawed because most of these tests are calibrated using a “average” sized male and because there is some scientifice evidence that women metabolize alcohol differently than men.
Scientific studies in both Italy and in Cananda suggest that there are additional differences between alcohol metabolism that raise even more questions about the validity of the tests and the testing equipment used by police.
One of the more interesting findings of the Canadian study suggests that birth control pills produce an enzyme that most Breathalyzer test machines will interpret as blood alcohol content. You can read more about this study in an article entitled “Do DUI Laws Discriminate Against Women?”
If you use oral contraceptives, make sure to tell me so we can discuss whether this factor might be an element in your defense.
[tags] women and DUI, differences between men and women in DUI cases, birth control pills and DUI, georgia dui [/tags]
Filed under dui defense georgia, georgia dui lawyer, Intoxilyzer 5000 issues, Trial issues by
