Goldfein: I’m Adam Goldfein, its 68 degree on Peachtree Street, seven minutes after the hour. We have a very special show here today. I have in the studio William C. Head, affectionately known as Bubba Head. And I say that with all due deference and respect. I am thrilled to have you here in the studio. I have to tell you, you absolutely made my day—thank you for coming in. You’re going to help us educate everyone in Georgia on DUI. You are the authority. How many books have you written on this?
Head: Well, including the books that I’ve co-authored with other attorneys from other states, 12 of them. But much of that is mainly editing to make sure that it’s readable because these books are written for clients, they’re not written for attorneys, so I wanted to make sure it was something that would be easy to read.
Goldfein: OK and you actually give these to all prospective clients when they come to your office, right?
Head: I do.
Goldfein: Yeah, because I have it here—The DUI Book.
Head: Correct. And the ones for each state have a state edition, and which the book that you have is just part of it. That one’s 430 pages, the one that they have usually runs between 580 and 600 because they supplement it with their specific state laws.
Goldfein: I gotcha. You want to go out to the phone lines and take some of the questions from callers?
Head: Sure.
Goldfein: Alright, let’s just jump out here. John from Atlanta thanks for holding. You’re on the Adam Goldfein Show. What’s your question?
John: Yeah, let’s say you’ve been arrested and you’ve had one drink and you’re unimpaired and you’re driving home and you’re stopped by a police and he asks if you’ve been drinking and you say “no” and he gives you an analyzer test and let’s say it registers .01, are you in any trouble from saying that you didn’t have anything to drink?
Goldfein: That’s a good question.
Head: Well, here’s the thing. You admitted that you drank, he smelled it—or you didn’t admit that you drank, he smelled it, but if that number happens to come up too high, or if you don’t take the test at the station…the one at the roadway doesn’t count. It’s not an admissible number against you; it’s only allowed to be used for positive for alcohol or negative for alcohol. So let’s say he takes you in because you’re acting kind of funny or you can’t do the field tests, which nobody else can either, and they take you jail—if you refuse the test at the station, yes, you can be convicted on that little evidence.
Goldfein: How much alcohol does it take to actually blow a .08?
Head: A .08 depends on your body size, and that’s your lean body mass. For example, if you are 5’2” tall and you weigh 100 pounds, that’s about the normal body weight. If you’re 5’2” and you weigh 280, you still only use the lean body mass of a 105 pound person because fat tissue doesn’t process alcohol, only lean tissue processes alcohol.
Goldfein: So it’s actually—that’s a false thought to say “well if I’m heavier, I can carry more alcohol?”
Head: And unfortunately, a lot of big people try to show everybody how much they can drink and they don’t realize that they’re just drunker than everybody else because they didn’t know the rules.
Goldfein: Men and women—does it affect them differently?
Head: It does. Women don’t have as much of a—basically, it’s an enzyme that burns alcohol in the stomach. Men have more of it. Many Asians don’t have any of it, male or female, in their stomachs. But women are at a disadvantage in drinking because they can’t process as much alcohol—burn as much of it out of their system as men can as a general rule.
Goldfein: Are there any kind of crazy foods or liquids or items that we ingest that could give a false positive?
Head: Oh my goodness, yes. Sprite, I’ve seen positive readings as high as a .08 on a breath machine.
Goldfein: On Sprite?
Head: On Sprite, yes.
Goldfein: Ok, there’ll be no more of that.
Head: Wonder bread, right Wonder bread–.08, I’ve seen that done in a seminar, live in a seminar, that it gave a false reading. It wasn’t alcohol; somebody would chew up a piece of Wonder bread. And then I told you about I have a video on YouTube for a .089 breath test which was nothing but a cell phone running near the machine.
Goldfein: Susan from Acworth, welcome to the show. Susan, are you there?
Susan: Hi there!
Goldfein: Hi.
Susan: Thanks for taking my call.
Goldfein: Sure, do you have a question?
Susan: Yeah, just a quick question. I have a CDL, drive a school bus, and occasionally like to go out and have a glass of wine with dinner—couple times of year, maybe. And what’s the rule there if I were to get pulled over on the way home?
Goldfein: Great question.
Head: Very good question. Unless you’re in the CDL vehicle, you’re treated with the.08 being your limit. In any CDL vehicle, .04—no matter what your age, over 21 or under 21—that’s the limit.
Goldfein: So if she were driving a truck and had the commercial driver’s license, it’s a .04?
Head: Right. Any commercial vehicle—all school buses are commercial vehicles. And, by the way, you’re held to a much higher standard of no alcohol whatsoever, and I’m sure you know that from the class you took.
Goldfein: Yeah, but if she gets pulled over in a regular vehicle, will that have any impact or consequence then on her CDL license?
Head: Absolutely. You cannot drive any CDL vehicle without the full license and your license, if you’re charged with DUI, is taken from you on the spot, you can’t drive with any type of limited permit or paper license.
Goldfein: You know, it’s a good point. I’m glad you’re bringing this up. The driver’s license and the criminal charge of driving under the influence—are they combined into one proceeding or are they two separate proceedings?
Head: In Georgia, they’re two separate proceedings. I’m doing cases in other states and in North Carolina, they are a combined proceeding. But in Georgia you could lose your license right at the front end, and that could have serious impacts on your ability to travel, rent cars, go to Canada, and you could be suspended from driving if you don’t take certain steps to protect your license and recently the State of Georgia legislature added a $150 filing fee as of May of last year, and you have to send that in with your request to appeal any type of proposed suspensions.
Goldfein: So that’s handled on the administrative level, then you have the criminal law on the other side?
Head: Right. Two different judges, two different courts, two different proceedings, completely different standards of proof required. So the first proceeding on administrative is the question of will you be allowed to drive by virtue of you having either refused to take the test or you did take the test and its above the legal limit that’s applicable to you, you could be suspended even before the criminal case comes up, but that’s all that could happen there. Then at the criminal case, that’s where you can go to jail, pay fines, have community service, many other punishments could be stacked on if you lose that.
Goldfein: Alright. Ramsey from Cherokee, welcome to the Adam Goldfein Show. What’s your question?
Ramsey: Yes, my question is I recently turned 21 a few months ago and I went out and bought a breathalyzer test just in case whenever I go shoot pool just to make sure that I am able to drive. And let’s say that I drank, you know two or three beers and I wasn’t sure that I was over the legal limit. Would you say that it would be better to refuse the field sobriety tests and the field breathalyzer and be taken into the station for that one for the time it takes to work the alcohol out of my system?
Head: Well, it’s generally my advice not to take field evaluations because the Clemson studies show how often people fail it when they’re not the slightest bit impaired. And so the field tests are really not designed with precision to determine who’s impaired and who’s not. So the bottom line is the field tests are all optional and if you’ve taken your little handheld device, it’s not as precise as other devices, plus your alcohol level can continue rising after the last drink for up to two hours. Because one of the things I thought Adam was going to ask me is “what’s the best thing to eat if you’re going to drink?” And that would be high protein foods.
Goldfein: Yeah, we can get to that as far as all the things—say we go out to dinner, right, and I have a glass of wine, what should I do? I mean, because you mentioned now just one, you said time. So time…
Head: Time is…it has to be there. Also, if you’re drinking something like straight alcohol, you don’t want to be drinking anything that has high alcohol content, you need to dilute it. But the main thing about it is high protein food doesn’t eliminate how much alcohol gets in your system, it just puts a lower peak, the area under the peak stays lower and you don’t have a big spike due to the fact that it hits your stomach and goes right into your bloodstream quickly. The food in your stomach—high protein food—slows down the motility of your body so that it doesn’t all get in very quickly, it takes awhile to process.
Goldfein: You know, one of the things that really struck me about your book was how scientific the entire process is, and how much more to the DUI defense exists beyond simply going through the mechanics of it. Everything from, as you discussed, the software and the machine to the behavior of the individual, you know, at the roadside and then maybe the behavior in the police car and possibly at the jail. All of the food that they’ve ingested, whether that gave false positives or negatives, the individual’s weight, what I guess their physical condition was, you’ve already mentioned what other types of prescriptions or other medicines they might have been on…
Head: Right
Goldfein: All these things I would assume change the fact patterns subtly, and might have a tremendous impact on the outcome.
Head: That’s correct. Every case is different. We never assume that one DUI is like the other because every individual has a different tolerance for alcohol and may have had a more steady low pace of alcohol, they didn’t drink that much; whereas other people seem to be in some kind of a contest of how much they could get down in the shortest period of time. So we try to get all of that information and we also get full health background information. Because if you’re a diabetic or hypoglycemic or you’ve been on a high protein diet, the highest reading I’ve seen in literature is a .17 from a diabetic with no alcohol–.17 on the same machine Georgia uses and that was a case out of Sweden.
Goldfein: Let’s go back to the phone line. You’re listening to William Head, who is probably—in my opinion—the nation’s leading legal expert on driving under the influence. He’s here in the studio with us, being very gracious with his time. By the way, if you want to see some of his videos, you can YouTube him at “Bubba Head.” You can go to YouTube and look at Bubba Head. Or you can go to his website GeorgiaCriminalDefense.com. Patrick from Alpharetta, welcome to the Adam Goldfein Show.
Patrick: How you doing?
Goldfein: Good.
Patrick: I don’t want to take you off the beaten path, but it could be a result of DUI—but mine wasn’t. I was…made a big mistake 13 years ago, got pulled over and charged with possession and have a felony on my record. I want to see if there is any way to have my rights restored. I got my rights restored to vote, you know, I’ve got a driver’s license and everything else. It was just a big mistake. The attorney that I got—I talked to him about going on first offenders, he’s like “no, don’t do that, cause if you screw up again you’ll be in big trouble.” Well, I wasn’t planning on it and went with my attorney’s advice and didn’t go on the first offenders and now I’ve got this felony hanging over me and want to know if there’s something I can do to have my rights restored.
Head: Well, there’s a situation where you’ve got to either have the governor give you a pardon, and that’s pretty rare. If you’ve lived an exemplary life, I’ve actually seen it happen in Georgia for a person…
Goldfein: Really?
Head: Sure have. But it’s very hard—we don’t have a normal expunction law. And people say “expungement,” but its expunction. We don’t have the normal law here and so getting that off your record is no easy task, and so unless the governor gives you a pardon, I don’t think you’re going to get that off your record. And I don’t want to go back and pre-judge what your attorney said because first offender might be a problem in certain jurisdictions if you did have another problem down the road.
Goldfein: You know, it begs the question to me as far as you have an arrest and a conviction for DUI, I think that people may or may not realize that it follows you. This is a tattoo that’s permanent.
Head: It’s there for life. You take it to the grave, it never comes off your record, you can’t get rid of it—even if you plead no contest. It’s there for life.
Goldfein: So when we come back, what I’d like you to help me do is let’s walk down your top consequences if you end up with a DUI conviction, OK?
Head: Glad to do it.
Goldfein: You’re listening to Adam Goldfein; I have my guest in the studio, William Head. You’re listening to AM 750 and now 95.5 FM, News talk, WSB.
Commercial Break
Goldfein: Welcome back to the Adam Goldfein Show, we’re sitting here with William Head, who is America’s DUI attorney. By the way, if you want to contact him you can at GeorgiaCriminalDefense.com. I would recommend that you put his phone number in your cell phone—God forbid you need it. His phone number is 404-250-1113. Let’s jump out to the phone lines and then when we come back after the news, weather, and traffic, we’ll talk about some of the others things as far as sleeping in the cars and boats and bicycles and motorcycles—there’s a whole host of other things we want to definitely make sure we get out there. Jeff from Lawrenceville, do you have a quick question?
Jeff: Yes. Assuming you feel you’re going to fail the test, I would, based on what you said, not volunteer any information, keep your mouth shut. Now when they take you in, do you blow or don’t you blow?
Goldfein: Alright, good question.
Head: Very good question and I would say, generally, there’s no one answer for everything. If you’ve been in a car wreck where somebody’s been injured or killed or if you have a horrible prior record for which this could put you away for years in prison, the answer is I wouldn’t take anything, I would just wait to talk to an attorney. But if the person is a first offender, he or she should take the test requested. They’ll usually ask for breath and at that point you’re entitled to tell the officer where you want to go for your own independent test. So if you’re in Gwinnett County, let’s say, you could say “take me to DeKalb Medical” or to Northside Hospital, and the officer has to reasonably accommodate your request for a blood test. Now here’s the thing about a blood test—you’re not going to get a number that night. They’re not going to sit down and analyze it, as it takes quite awhile. You can then ask the officer… “I appreciate you taking me for blood, I’ve paid for that, now if you could take me to a different police station with a breath machine other than your own, I’d like to get another breath test taken right now.” And you’re entitled to that. You’re entitled to as many additional tests as you want.
Goldfein: Can I pick urine after that?
Head: Sure you can, you can go to Clayton General and get a urine test. You can ask for as many tests as you want after…you might not like the breath test results you get at the police station.
Goldfein: Now let me ask you—I have to pay for these second tests, right?
Head: Any additional tests are your costs.
Goldfein: I don’t have the money in my pocket. What reasonable accommodations must the officer make?
Head: In Georgia, they’re required to take you to an ATM within reasonable distance, but most hospitals have ATMs right in the hallway, so that’s that. Or you can even call someone to bring money to you at the hospital.
Goldfein: You’re listening to the Adam Goldfein Show. We’ll have more with Mr. William Head, counselor, esquire, author in just a moment here on AM 750 and now 95.5 FM, News talk, WSB.
Commercial Break
Goldfein: I’m Adam Goldfein, we’re having a very upfront and personal conversation with William C. Head of Head, Thomas, Webb and Willis law firm. Bubba Head is the nation’s leading DUI expert. He is the one that provides courses in continuing legal education to virtually every Georgia lawyer; in fact, if they practice anywhere in the area or gone to his course, they have his book. He is also the author of the well-known, I guess it’s produced—I think–by West Law, right? Thomson West?
Head: Thomson West.
Goldfein: And I appreciate by the way, the copy. I’d like you to sign it when we’re done here.
Head: Well you read everything else I sent you, so that’s another 1400 pages you have.
Goldfein: Yeah, alright—we’ll do it. Now you were talking just before the break about the reasonable accommodations that the police have to offer you if you request it, right? And you were saying as far as if they test you, you have a right to request a blood test at a hospital or have another breath exam or urine exam done so you have your own records.
Head: That’s correct. You have the right to any test you want. The police could also ask you for all three: blood, breath, and urine, and some of them do. So you have the right to the same tests for yourself. When you request it, you have to ask for it and tell them where you want to go.
Goldfein: Which of the tests retain the presence of alcohol the longest, and which of the tests dissipate the alcohol the quickest?
Head: Well the tests don’t really dissipate because when a breath test—no matter if it’s a Georgia machine—its dumped right out in the room, you can’t keep any sample. There’s the ability to get it into a crimper, but only a couple of states, like New Hampshire and Colorado, have used that. So a blood test is there for further analysis. In fact, in California if you’re stopped, they say “I’m going to ask you for breath, but if you want the type of test that retains the sample, ask for blood.” The state will pay for it and will keep some and give you your part too. So different states have different rules on that, but Georgia doesn’t give you the option.
Goldfein: OK,
