Cobb County DUI Court Process

Cobb County convicts DUI defendants at a higher rate per resident than Fulton or DeKalb, and that isn't an accident. The Solicitor General's office recorded 1,090 first-time DUI convictions in 2024 and is markedly less willing than its metro neighbors to reduce a DUI to reckless driving. During holiday "No Refusal" weekends, magistrates go on call so an officer whose breath test is refused can get an electronic warrant for a blood draw signed within minutes, with a phlebotomist waiting at the jail.

Misdemeanor DUI cases go to the State Court of Cobb County. The clerk's office is at 12 East Park Square in Marietta; the courtrooms are around the corner at 70 Haynes Street. The court runs in two divisions, a leftover from the days when only one handled jury trials, but every one of its twelve judges can now seat a jury, which has cut the wait between arraignment and trial. Felony DUI, meaning a fourth offense within ten years or one involving serious injury or death, goes instead to Superior Court and the District Attorney.

The arraignment is usually set 45 to 90 days after the arrest. Defense counsel almost always files a Waiver of Arraignment, a document that enters a not-guilty plea, demands a jury trial, and excuses the defendant from showing up. Skip the arraignment without filing that waiver and a bench warrant issues the same day. Once the not-guilty plea is in, a 10-day window opens to file motions challenging the stop, the field sobriety tests, or the breath or blood results. Miss it and those challenges are generally waived. Cases from municipal courts in Marietta, Smyrna, Kennesaw, or Acworth can be pushed into State Court by demanding a jury trial, which resets the timeline and moves prosecution from a city solicitor to the county's.

For repeat offenders there's the DUI Court, run by Judge Eric Brewton with coordinator Darcy Kamau at 770-528-1762. It's voluntary, post-conviction, and takes at least 14 months across five phases. Eligibility means a second DUI within 10 years or a third in a lifetime, Cobb County residency, a clinical finding of dependence, and current charges serious enough to support a 24-month sentence, because the court needs that much suspended jail time to hold over a participant's head. Phase one requires appearing before Judge Brewton every other Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., weekly counseling, and a daily call to a hotline that says whether to report for a random screen at the treatment center on County Services Parkway. Sanctions for a missed test or a dilute sample are immediate and can include 24 to 48 hours in jail. Wash out of the program and the original suspended sentence comes down in full.

Sources

• State Court of Cobb County — Records Search
• Cobb County DUI Court Program Handbook
• Cobb County Superior Court Clerk