By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Former Fox 5 anchor Amanda Davis received a one-year probation and 40 hours of community service after a DUI charge last June, according to a sentencing order from the State Court of Cobb County.
I was not keeping up with the case in a very timely fashion because this sentencing agreement, which I picked up this morning, was signed on November 4, 2015.
This was the third DUI charge for Davis in metro Atlanta. Her first was more than 20 years ago. She was last charged with a DUI in 2012 that was ultimately dismissed. But the case may have cost her her job with Fox 5 after 26 years in 2013.
Last spring, CBS 46 hired her and several other former journalists to do occasional "Just a Minute" commentaries. On the day her first "Just a Minute" commentary was set to air, she was arrested for a DUI in Cobb County.
The June 15, 2015 police report didn't provide a lot of details:
"I observed a Mercedes E350 fail to maintain a single lane of travel on Atlanta Road southbound prior to Cumberland Pkwy.," the arresting officer wrote in the report. "The driver of the vehicle, Amanda Davis, was placed under arrest for DUI after I conducted an investigation."
Her commentary never aired and she chose to take a leave of absence. CBS46 has not put her back in the rotation.
"We're aware of the disposition," wrote CBS46 news manager Larry Perret. "We're waiting for Amanda to let us know when she is ready to start her 'Just A Minute' segments."
In the disposition, Davis pled to a DUI under the category "less safe."
Local DUI attorney George Stein, who was not involved with the case, said "less safe" means "she was under the influence and that she was impaired. They use that count when someone refuses to take a breath test so they have a vehicle to convict based on what the officer observes."
He said the punishment was typical for a person who hasn't had a DUI in at least five years. (Her 2012 case didn't count since it was thrown out.)
Davis and her attorney William Head did not respond to calls for comment.
Three other counts involving use of drugs and alcohol and failure to maintain lane were dismissed.
Her probation requires her to attend DUI school and receive alcohol and drug dependency rehabilitation, which she had already completed prior to the November disposition.
