HALL COUNTY, Ga. — The months-long process of taking Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch to court for alleged drunk driving is heating up as attorneys for the state and the sheriff legally spar over evidence.
On May 6, Couch’s attorney filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case, claiming that there were issues with the evidentiary process when the sheriff was arrested in February.
Among the claims, Couch’s attorney said the search of Couch’s vehicle was “warrantless and nonconsensual,” and that the field sobriety test administered to him was involuntary, violating his Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights.
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Last week, the prosecution filed their response, justifying the actions of the officers and state troopers involved in Couch’s arrest for driving under the influence in a sheriff’s vehicle.
What we already knew from the arrest records
Details of the case, as far as Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch’s alleged drunkenness and how he was driving were in the arrest report from GSP obtained by Channel 2 Action News in March.
With the filing in June, prosecutors went back over that process, as well as how the evidence was obtained.
Prosecutors told the court that it started the morning of Couch’s arrest, deputies from Hall County had gotten a tip the sheriff may have been drinking again and were preparing to go to his home to discuss it with him.
While on the way to the sheriff’s home, deputies told prosecutors they saw a vehicle recognized as Couch’s “failing to maintain its lane” and followed it to Couch’s home. Both deputies at the scene spoke to the sheriff, smelled alcohol coming from both him and his vehicle, prosecutors said.
That’s when the deputies called the GSP to take over the investigation.
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What’s new in the filings?
Prosecutors told the court that Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch was hospitalized the day before his arrest for DUI to be treated for a “potentially fatal level” of blood alcohol.
Couch’s attorney is disputing the process of how the Georgia State Patrol tested Couch’s sobriety and searched his vehicle.
The defense is also alleging that from vehicle search to blood draw, the gathering of evidence for Couch’s Feb. 27 arrest was illegal or violated statute.
The Hall County Sheriff’s attorney also wrote to the court that the retrieval of medical records on a search warrant was improper.
The prosecutors disagree.
In their response to Couch’s attorney filing to suppress evidence, prosecutors told the judge that Couch was being treated at Northeast Medical Center in Gainesville, suffering from alcohol intoxication. A blood draw performed at the hospital showed his blood alcohol content was 373 milligrams per deciliter, a potentially fatal level.
The GSP arrest report for Sheriff Couch shows that deputies told troopers that he’d been treated for alcohol-related medical concerns.
The prosecutors’ filing in June references this, adding that the treatment acknowledged Couch’s history of drinking and intoxication.
The day of his February arrest, Couch’s blood alcohol level was 0.212%. In Georgia, the legal alcohol limit is 0.08%, putting his BAC at nearly three-times the legal limit.
Hospital staff administered medication to help with alcohol withdrawal that evening, prosecutors said.
The same evening, prosecutors said Couch was seen buying alcohol from a local store.
What’s Sheriff Couch’s current status?
Gov. Brian Kemp suspended Sheriff Couch after the arrest, then extended the suspension in May.
The Hall County Sheriff was also accused in May of violating the terms of his bond for the DUI arrest. He was arrested in Dawson County for violating his bond and driving outside of Hall County.
The sheriff’s attorney said the violation was both unintentional and the fault of the Georgia Department of Driver Services, not at the fault of his client.
DDS disputed this claim as well, providing an examples of the limited driver’s license Couch was given, and signed for, as a condition of his bond.
A hearing on the motion to suppress is scheduled for Tuesday morning, with a jury trial scheduled in September.
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