Question: I wasn't drunk but I got arrested in Cobb County over the weekend.  I admitted to the cop that I had been drinking.  I told him we went to some bars in Marietta and Smyrna.  I told the truth.  We did some drinking on the Marietta Square at a restaurant.  We had some brews in Smyrna at a Mexican place with good guacamole.

But I just drank beer all night and I only had maybe 7 over a few hours.  I was the designated driver.  I know I wasn't drunk because I know what drunk is.  When I get drunk I get into fights, I curse a lot and I usually vomit.  I even go to A.A. meetings to keep it in check.

I did everything the Cobb policeman asked. I did the field tests and I took the breathalyzer test at the jail.  I got a reading of .132.  Yes, it's over the limit, I know that, but I also know I felt fine to drive.

I need to know if just because I was over the limit on their breath test I am considered DUI.  It doesn't seem fair that I get a DUI when I really wasn't drunk; I was just buzzed.

Answer: Unfortunately, you can be convicted of DUI for just having a breathalyzer test result that exceeds .08.  O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391 (a) (5) is a “per se” DUI statute and is sometimes referred to as driving “UBAL, or “driving with an unlawful blood alcohol level.”  Stevenson v. State, 264 Ga. 892, 453 S.E.2d 18 (1995).

It does not matter that you believe you were not drunk.  Nor does it matter, under this statute, that you may have done extremely well on the field sobriety tests.  You can be convicted of DUI simply because of your breathalyzer test result.

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