Clayton County Commissioner Wole Ralph has asked for a jury trial over a long list of charges including DUI, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Ralph’s lawyer, James K. “Skip” Sullivan, said Ralph is pleading not guilty in a document titled “Waiver of Arrangment and Demand for Jury Trial."
Ralph was arrested after being pulled over on Metropolitan Parkway in southwest Atlanta in February 2011. Police said he refused to perform a sobriety test or submit to a Breathalyzer test. .
Fulton County Solicitor General Carmen Smith on Jan. 31. had filed charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, less safe; failure to maintain lane; reckless driving, and two counts of obstruction of an officer, according to Channel 2.
In October, an Atlanta senior assistant solicitor confirmed that a deal had been on the table to drop DUI charges for Ralph, but the solicitor’s office and a judge decided to avoid any appearance of impropriety because of Ralph’s friendship with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
The case was sent to a Fulton County court instead of Atlanta Municipal Court, according to Channel 2.
The assistant city solicitor said her office had offered to let Ralph plead guilty to reckless driving in return for dropping other charges, subject to a judge’s approval, but Ralph had not accepted the offer, and Fulton County prosecutors were not bound by it, according to Channel 2.
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