Question:  I'm embarrassed that I got a DUI. I don't want a DUI because I know it looks bad and I don't want to tell my parents about it because they always warned me about drinking and driving. But I got a DUI last night after coming from a party at Georgia Tech, where I'm in graduate school for engineering. It was with some friends and a bunch of people who I've never met. It was at a party and I was drinking.

We were all playing beer pong and it got pretty competitive. I just felt like I needed to do well to show that my beer pong skills had improved over the years and I got caught up in the excitement. Like a lot of people at Georgia Tech I guess you could say I'm very competitive. I went to college at Tech and now I'm there for grad school. That competitiveness sometimes can get me into trouble.

Just so you know, I was tested and I'm not on the autism spectrum. I get asked that sometimes.  

The beer pong game was going fine but I thought that the other team was cheating. I can't remember how, but I thought they were taking advantage of the rules. I think that got me in a bad mood and I had a shot of tequila or two.

After we lost at pong, I just wanted to go home and watch a video. So I got in my car and drove to where I live, which is with my parents in Johns Creek. On my way home, in Roswell, I got into a fender-bender and the other driver called the police and they came and arrested me for DUI and now I need a Roswell DUI attorney.

I took the breath test and I got a .225. I want to know if I can somehow use as a defense that I wasn't at all trying to get drunk, I was just playing a competitive game of beer pong and I wanted to win. Maybe because I wasn't trying to get drunk I can get a better deal from the prosecutors in Roswell. Can I use that as a defense?

M.F. in Alpharetta, Georgia

Answer:  Since a charge of DUI does not require any intent under Georgia law, your explanation that you were not trying to become intoxicated, merely win a game of beer pong, is not a valid legal defense.

Beer pong is a very popular drinking game and we have had a number of clients who were arrested for drunk driving after playing.

The fact that someone became intoxicated playing a game, watching a movie or T.V. or while enjoying a meal or at a party are not defenses. Indeed, the only thing that Georgia law is concerned with is if a motorist is a less safe driver because he or she consumed alcohol or took drugs (and that includes prescription drugs). 

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