An Atlanta Municipal Court prosecutor has decided to send a DUI case against Clayton County Commission Vice Chairman Wole Ralph to Fulton State Court, saying she was concerned about appearances of favoritism.
The decision was made late Thursday just a few hours after Senior Assistant Solicitor Shemia Francisco said she was going to offer a deal to Ralph that did not include a drunken driving charge that has been pending since February. Her reasoning then was that the Atlanta police officers who arrested Ralph eight months ago failed to make a case for the DUI charge and didn't follow some basic procedures.
The Solicitor's Office opted to send the case to Fulton after learning about the friendship between Ralph and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. The office was concerned about appearances because the mayor holds sway over its budget. Francisco stressed, however, that the mayor "at no point in time has called us."
"But the facts are, regardless of what we know as the truth, people are going to presume he [Ralph] is getting a deal because he is friends with the mayor," Francisco said. "Mayor Reed has done nothing wrong. "
She said the decision to "bind over" the case to Fulton will not hurt Ralph. He is still entitled to a trial.
Reed has no budgetary authority over Fulton.
Francisco had said earlier Thursday that she would recommend to Municipal Court Judge Calvin Graves that Ralph's punishment, if he pleaded guilty to reckless driving, be a fine, 12 months' probation, 100 hours of community service and attendance in a DUI risk reduction class. Francisco said she would not prosecute him for the charges filed by the police -- DUI, obstruction and failure to maintain a lane -- because “he wasn’t asked standard questions that would have built the case for the prosecution.”
She said such deficiencies in DUI cases are common if the arrests are made by Atlanta Police Department officers who are not members of the unit assigned to watch for intoxicated drivers.
An APD spokesman said Chief George Turner was withholding comment on her criticisms until he has spoken with Solicitor Raines Carter, whose office prosecutes cases in Municipal Court.
Telephone messages left for Ralph and his attorney, David Botts, were not returned.
Ralph was stopped shortly before 2:30 a.m. Feb. 19 after he drove his 2000 Mustang out of the parking lot of a nightclub called Creme.
According to the police report, Ralph swerved several times into oncoming lanes and once dragged the underside of his car on a median between lanes of traffic, "causing sparks to begin flying."
Officer W.J. Hubbard and a partner pulled Ralph over at 2302 Metropolitan Parkway.
The police report said Ralph refused to turn off his engine or to get out of his car, and he started to dig through the contents of the console between the two front seats. The report said the two officers pulled him out of the driver's seat because he "may have had a weapon inside the console" and they feared for their safety.
But the prosecutor, Francisco, said the officers refused to give a reason for stopping Ralph. She said Ralph claimed the officers dragged him out of the car and that apparently was the basis for the obstructions charge.
"There is no obstruction," Francisco said. "What they are calling obstruction is they asked him to get out of the car and they wouldn't tell him ... why he was pulled over. "
According to the report, the officers pulled Ralph from his car, threw him to the ground, handcuffed him and took him to jail.
The officers wrote in the incident report that they smelled alcohol only after he was handcuffed, and it was then that they asked him to take a field sobriety test, according to the report.
Francisco said they "didn't read him the implied consent" warning before he was handcuffed. Georgia's "implied consent" law says motorists suspected of drunken driving can have their licenses taken if they refuse a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer test. Francisco said the officers did not give him his Miranda warning that he is not required to incriminate himself, which he could have done had he agreed to the test after he was handcuffed.
"It wasn't until he was in handcuffs and going to jail that they said they smelled alcohol," Francisco said. "He wasn't asked standard questions that would have built a case for the prosecution."
About the Author
