Question:  I just want to say that I've never been arrested for anything in my life.  I'm a 58 year old woman with a husband and 3 children.  But I was arrested in Atlanta for DUI.  I'm very embarrassed and I don't want anyone to find out.

I was out with a friend of mine and we spent a day visiting the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and the High Museum of Art and we went shopping in Buckhead at Phipps Plaza.  We had a couple of white wines each and maybe a gin and tonic.  Then we went to Mary Mac's Tea Room and then to the Buckhead Diner to meet our husbands.

My husband had been playing golf at the Piedmont Driving Club and he was pretty drunk so I said I would drive home.  We were close to our house in Buckhead when I noticed the Atlanta police officer behind us.  When the cop came over I was very polite but my husband was being obnoxious like always when he drinks.  He called the officer stupid and said he looked like a goofball.  That's when the cop asked me to get out of the car and he asked me if I had been drinking.

I said that I had a couple with dinner.  He finally arrested me for DUI and he read me some card.  But he never read me my Miranda rights.  Did the cop make a mistake and can I get the DUI charges dropped?

Answer:  Many clients ask about Miranda when they are arrested for DUI.  So-called Miranda warnings (from the United States Supreme Court decision Miranda v. Arizona) are quite often mentioned in popular culture – in books, movies and television shows.  However, there is no requirement for police officers to read Miranda rights during a DUI arrest.

Miranda warnings were judicially established to alert an individual of the "right to remain silent.”  They are only required if a person is (1) in police custody and (2) being interrogated.  For Miranda to be relevant to your case, both conditions must be satisfied.

If, however, you were in custody and the police interrogated you without first advising you of these rights, your Atlanta DUI defense attorney will try to have any statements you made during that time excluded from evidence.

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When you need to contact a skilled, aggressive and knowledgeable Atlanta DUI lawyer, the Sherman Law Group is here for you at 678-215-4106.  We're always proud when our clients tell their family and friends that we are “the best DUI attorneys in Atlanta.”  We bring vital experience gained as a former Assistant Attorney General, Assistant County Attorney and Magistrate Judge to help our clients.

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