(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...2 views
Updated: June 18th, 2023 | Decatur | Lawyer List D | Peters Rubin Sheffield & Hodges P.A. |
The current rating on Douglas N. Peters is
(No Ratings Yet)Loading...And receives 2 page views
Address: 2786 North Decatur Road, Suite 245, decatur, GA, 30033
Law Firm: Peters, Rubin, Sheffield & Hodges, P.A.
Phone: 404-905-2503
Fax: 404-294-0441
Email:
Website: https://www.justiceingeorgia.com
| Title | Member |
| First Year of Call | |
| Areas of Practice | White Collar Crime, Appellate Practice, Criminal Law, Drug Crimes, DUI/DWI, Felonies, Homicide, Juvenile Law, Misdemeanors, Parole and Probation, Sex Crimes, Sexual Abuse |
| Description | Douglas N. Peters graduated from the University of Georgia (B.A.) in 1971 and the University of Georgia School of Law (J.D.) in 1974. After law school, he served as Assistant District Attorney in the Clayton Judicial Circuit and Judge of the Municipal Court for the City of Lithonia before founding what is now Peters, Rubin & Sheffield, P.A. Doug is a past President of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and past Chairman of the Association’s Research Services Committee. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers TOP 100 Trial Lawyers, and has attained the highest rating of AV by Martindale Hubble. Doug has been recognized each year as a Super Lawyer in Georgia for the past 15 years, and was named the Georgia Lawyer of the Year for Criminal Defense for 2013, 2016, and 2018 by The Best Lawyers in America. Publications and Speaking Engagements Doug is nationally recognized for his expertise in defending individuals accused of committing crimes against children. He authored The Defense of the Child Molestation Case in Georgia, a book distributed through the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. It is available to over 2,000 Association members. Doug lectures nationally and locally to judges, lawyers, investigators, and other professionals, and he organizes, moderates, and serves as keynote speaker for his annual Georgia seminar on the defense of the child molestation case in Georgia. A chapter of his book focuses on defending against false allegations of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma. Doug has been invited by the National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center in Holland, Ohio to lecture on defending against allegations of child physical abuse at national conferences in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. He has also been invited by organizations to lecture on biomechanical defenses to allegations of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Indiana. Recognitions and Honors Doug’s peers have repeatedly recognized his exemplary legal work. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times list Doug in Best Lawyers in America, and The Atlanta Journal Constitution listed Doug in Georgia’s Best Lawyers and named him the 2018 Georgia Lawyer of the Year for Criminal Defense. In 2009, Doug received the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ prestigious Rees Smith Achievement for Excellence Award. Doug is the sixth lawyer to ever receive this recognition in the Association’s 35 year history. In 2013, Doug was honored as the second Association member ever to receive the G. Terry Jackson Friend of the Constitution National Award in recognition of passion, excellence, and leadership in criminal defense. At the award ceremony held at the State Bar of Georgia, Association representative and partner, Jason Sheffield said, Doug Peters is an unbelievable lawyer: intuitive, intelligent, creative, visceral, powerful, compelling, and compassionate. Time and time again, juries have returned verdicts in Doug’s cases that have expressed their belief in Doug’s clients’ innocence. Trial Practice Doug’s representation of his clients has resulted in local and national television appearances including 20/20, Dateline, 48 Hours, The Today Show, and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren. Doug has represented defendants in high profile homicide prosecutions including the Dunwoody Daycare Murder Case, the Fulton County motorcycle shop shooting by Atlanta police officers, and the double homicide case against dentist Dr. Bart Corbin. His numerous jury trial acquittals include State of Georgia v. John Doe (first successful sexsomnia defense in Georgia in the face of aggravated child molestation charges), and Court TV cases of State of Georgia v. Dr. Eva Carrizales (neonatologist accused of killing a premature baby under her care in the hospital) and State of Georgia v. Christopher Routh (16 year-old babysitter accused of aggravated child molestation and murder of a 3 year-old child). Doug won acquittals in State of Georgia v. Mark and Cara Dykes (parents accused of shaking their 2 month-old daughter and breaking both her legs), and in State of Georgia v. Jeanne Daniel (in-home daycare provider charged with shaking 6 month-old child resulting in permanent brain damage and blindness). In Jeanne Daniel’s case, Doug successfully defended against the first pre-trial attempt by prosecutors in Georgia to exclude biomechanical expert testimony challenging the shaken baby syndrome. This victory led to a jury verdict of not guilty. Appellate Practice Doug’s post-conviction appellate work has also shaped Georgia law in defending individuals accused of crimes against children. Doug authored the Amicus Brief on behalf of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where the Georgia Supreme Court reversed a criminal conviction in Barlow v. State, 507 S.E.2d 416. The Barlow decision changed the law in Georgia to allow individuals accused of child abuse to present expert testimony informing juries of the proper techniques required to interview child victims and of the unreliability of children’s statements when improper techniques are used. Doug served as co-counsel in the case of Goldstein v. State, 640 S.E.2d 599, where the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a criminal conviction and outlined an emerging standard requiring the use of proper expert witnesses in child molestation trials. In Darst v. State, 746 S.E.2d 865, Doug was retained by the defendant following guilty verdicts returned against the defendant for Aggravated Child Molestation and the imposition of sentences totaling 60 years to serve. Doug presented evidence at the Motion for New Trial hearing including impeaching facts from the alleged victims’ school records, therapy records, juvenile court records, and DFACS records, as well as testimony from 6 lay witnesses and 3 expert witnesses, creating a post-trial record resulting in reversal of defendant’s convictions in the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court. In State of Georgia v. Melanie Ware, other counsel had represented the accused at trial; she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the shaking death of a 6 month-old baby she cared for in her home. Following her trial, Doug successfully overturned the conviction by assembling experts whose post-trial testimony persuaded the trial judge that the child died from sickle-cell disease not from shaking. Doug’s post-conviction successes also include overturning convictions for two clients formerly represented by other counsel and wrongfully convicted of aggravated child molestation in State of Georgia v. Essick and State of Georgia v. Mauldin. Author Of Doug Peters, DEFENSE OF THE CHILD MOLESTATION CASE IN GEORGIA, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Updated yearly for distribution through Georgia Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers Doug Peters, DEFENDING FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Updated yearly for distribution through Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Doug Peters & Bobby Lee Cook, COMPUTER SIMULATION IN THE DEFENSE OF CRIMINAL CASES: THE LAW IN GEORGIA, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (1999) Speaking Engagements October 30, 2018, Georgia Public Defender Council; Organizer, Moderator, and Analyst for Seminar on Defending a Child Sex Abuse Case; Lecture presented: Expert Testimony-Preparation, Confrontation, and Presentation, Atlanta, Georgia Organizer, Moderator, and Keynote Speaker for the Annual Seminar on the Defense of a Child Molestation Case in Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia. Sponsors have included State Bar of Georgia Criminal Law Section, Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel. Examples of topics covered: Investigation, Trial Preparation, Opening Statuent, Medical Expert Testimony, Psychological Expert Testimony, Cross Examination of the Alleged Victim, Closing Argument August 2015-August 2018, Founding Instructor: Georgia to Georgia Criminal Defense College, Tblisi, Republic of Georgia, in association with the United States Embassy and the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Agency’s Rule of Law Program in Republic of Georgia March 2-3, 2018, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Defense of the Child Molestation Case in Georgia: State of Georgia v. Avis Stone, Atlanta, Georgia October 12-13, 2017, Criminal Law-opoly, a Seminar Sponsored by Lister & Holt; Fit for Trial? Just Do It!, Jonesboro, Georgia July 25, 2017, Georgia Public Defender Council; Pre Trial Motions and Evidentiary Issues in Child Molestation Cases, Conference in Savannah, Georgia November 17, 2016, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Admit the Act and Win the Case: The Sexsomnia Defense, Las Vegas, Nevada July 27, 2016, Georgia Public Defender Council; Defending the Child Trauma Case, Conference in Savannah, Georgia October 15, 2015, The Winning Edge, The Right Ethics, a Seminar Sponsored by Lister & Holt, Jonesboro, Georgia March 6, 2015, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; The Defense of the Child Molestation Case in Georgia Ready for the Defense: Back to Basics and New Directions; Expert Testimony in State v. Darst December 2013, California Public Defenders Association; The Dynamics of Defending Sex Cases Involving Children, Palm Springs, California March 8, 2013, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Defending Your First Child Molestation Trial? Just Do It! October 25-26, 2012, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Sleepwalking, Brown-Outs, and Prescription Sleep Aids, New Orleans, LA May 30, 2012, National Conference of Federal Defenders; The One Percent: Why We Do What We Do October 2011, Georgia Innocence Project, The Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Juror’s Guide to the Truth, Conference in Atlanta, Georgia March 2011, Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Trial of the Child Molestation Case: The Final 60 Days, Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho October 2010, Criminal Defense Seminar sponsored by Lister & Holt, Preparation and Presentation of the Defendant’s Testimony, Jonesboro, Georgia August 2010, National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center, Shaken Baby Syndrome: The Biomechanical Issues, Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada June 2010, Georgia State Bar, Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Mentor for Attendees, Gary Christy Memorial Trial Skills Clinic, Athens, Georgia April 2010, The Innocence Project and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, The Child Abuse Case: Post Conviction Preparation and presentation of Expert Testimony, Conference on Litigating Non-DNA Post-Conviction Innocence Cases, Atlanta, Georgia March 2010, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, On Trial: A War of Many Battles, Conference at Stone Mountain, Georgia August 2009, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Jury Selection in the Child Victim Case, Conference on Voir Dire in Criminal Cases, Atlanta, Georgia March 2009, Fulton County, Georgia, Public Defender’s Office, Child Abuse Cases: Current Case Law, Workshop at Atlanta, Georgia March 2009, Indiana Public Defender Council, Investigation, Discovery, Motions in Limine, and Similar Transactions in the Child Abuse Case, Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana January 2009, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, So the Confession is Coming In, So What: Building a Defense When Your Client has Admitted the Crime (The Issue of False Confession Evidence), Winter Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia November 2008, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Fall Suinar, Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Pre-trial Harper Challenge, Young Harris, Georgia September 2008, National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center, Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Pre-trial Daubert Challenge, Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada September 2007, Alabama Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Defending a Child Molestation Case, Conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama November 2006, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Fall Seminar, Locating, Preparing & Presenting the Expert Witness, Helen, Georgia September 2006, National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center, The Winning Edge/The Right Ethics, Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada April 2003, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Spring Seminar, Preparation and Presentation of the Defendant’s Testimony, St. Simons, Georgia June 2002, Georgia Trial Skills Clinic, Cross Examination of the Case Worker or Child Advocate, Athens, Georgia July 2001, Georgia Superior Court Judges Conference, Defense of the Child Abuse Case: The Defense Perspective, St. Simons, Georgia March 2001, Georgia Indigent Defense Council, Keeping Out the Bad and Getting in the Good: Motions in Limine and Pitfalls Regarding Character Evidence, Atlanta, Georgia July 2000, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, Keeping Out the Bad Getting in the Good: Motions in Limine and Pitfalls Regarding Character Evidence, Mableton, Georgia June 2000, Alabama Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Seminar, Impeaching the Alleged Child Victim Through Expert Testimony, Gulf Shores, Alabama May 2000, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, The Behavior of the Alleged Victim: Investigation, Preparation and Presentation of Expert Testimony, Atlanta, Georgia May 2000, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Bring Your Files Workshop, Child Molestation Cases, Atlanta, Georgia October 1999, National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center, Seminar Host and Instructor for Workshops, Defending Against Allegations of Child Molestation by Pre-School Age Victims, Las Vegas, Nevada May 1999, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, Recent Developments in the Defense of Child Abuse Cases in Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia November 1998, Alabama Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Seminar, Jury Selection in Child Sex Abuse Cases, Huntsville, Alabama November 1998, Alabama Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Seminar, Cross Examination of the Case Worker or Child Advocate, Huntsville, Alabama October 1998, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, Character Evidence of the Defendant and the Complainant in a Rape Case, Atlanta, Georgia August 1998, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, Keeping out the Bad and Letting in the Good: Motion in Limine and Pitfalls Regarding Character Evidence, Atlanta, Georgia April 1998, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Bring Your Files Workshop, Child Molestation Cases, Atlanta, Georgia May 1997, Institute of Continuing Legal Education Seminar, Pre-Trial Preparation: Preparing the Client, Atlanta, Georgia March 1997, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, The Use of Experts in the Defense of the Child Molestation Cases, Atlanta, Georgia October, 1996, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Fall Seminar, Taking the Offense in Defending Alleged Crimes Against Children, Helen, Georgia April 1994, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Spring Seminar, Preparation and Presentation of the Defendant’s Testimony, St. Simons, Georgia May 1993, Georgia Indigent Defense Counsel Seminar, How To Try a Child Molestation Case, Atlanta, Georgia April 1991, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Spring Seminar, Use of Experts in the Defense of Child Molestation Cases, St. Simons, Georgia Awards Named the Georgia Lawyer of the Year for Non-White-Collar Criminal Defense for 2013, 2016 and 2018 by The Best Lawyers in America G. Terry Jackson Friend of the Constitution National Award in recognition of passion, excellence and leadership in criminal defense (second lawyer to receive this recognition in the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) Rees Smith Achievement For Excellence Award (sixth lawyer to receive this recognition in the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ 35-year history) Awarded the highest rating of AV by Martindale Hubble Ten Leaders Award, Criminal Defense Law Georgia Trend Magazine Legal Elite Award Invitation Only Organizations Super Lawyer in Georgia (15 years) American College of Trial Lawyers The National Trial Lawyers TOP 100 Trial Lawyers Former Positions Held Assistant District Attorney, Clayton Judicial Circuit, 1974-1976 Judge, Municipal Court for City of Lithonia, 1977-1992 Professional Association Memberships Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1995, President Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1994, Executive Vice President Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Educational Foundation, Vice Chairman Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Chairman, Research Services Committee National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Member State Bar of Georgia, Criminal Law Section State Bar of Georgia, Chairman, Fee Arbitration Committee, 1997 United States Federal Defender’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, Board of Directors Faculty, Georgia Institute of Trial Advocacy National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center, Member American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow |
Trial & Appellate Lawyers with over 85 years of combined experience. We approach each case with a thorough knowledge of the law, compassion for our client, and unequaled advocacy in the courtroom.We bring to the representation of our clients a combined 85 years of experience as former prosecutors, judges, or public defenders. We approach each case as proven trial and appellate lawyers, with a thorough knowledge of the law, compas…
David P. Cherundolo
Strout & Payson P.A.
Eric M. Martin Attorney
Patrick H. Tate P.A.
The Ted Kanner Law Office
Conliffe Sandmann & Sullivan
John R. Hakanson
Hoeppner Wagner & Evans LLP
Ira B. Zinman
Alfred F. Zachry P.C.
Law Offices of Paul S. Dannenberg
Teller Hassell & Hopson LLP
The Sanchez Law Firm LLC
Keller Law Office
Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace
Law Offices of Roger D. Brown
