Learn about our areas of experties involving state crimes, and better understand your rights.
Learn about our areas of experties involving state crimes, and better understand your rights.
If you are accused of a crime, the only thing standing between your freedom and a verdict of "guilty" is an experienced criminal defense attorney in Tybee Island, GA.
Those who have been arrested before know that life in the legal system is no laughing matter. Aside from the imminent ramifications of fines and jail time, any goals you have of bettering yourself and advancing your life could be compromised. Without a trusted attorney by your side, you could face a lifetime of embarrassment and poor employment prospects due to a tarnished criminal record.
The good news? Dennis O'Brien and his team of experienced lawyers in Tybee Island are ready to clear your name. By retaining the help of a criminal defense attorney early in the legal process, you have a much better chance of securing your freedom and living a life as a productive member of society.
At O'Brien Law Firm PC, our practice was founded to fight for the rights of individuals accused of or charged with a crime. Our team of legal experts is well-equipped to take even the most difficult, contentious cases. From violent felonies to DUI, there is nothing we haven't seen and handled. As a former law enforcement officer, founding attorney Dennis O'Brien knows exactly how much a person can lose if convicted. That's why we work tirelessly to secure a verdict that is favorable for our clients.
Regardless of how serious or minor your case may be, know that we will fight fearlessly on your behalf. You deserve zealous representation - when you hire O'Brien Law Firm PC, you will receive nothing less.
Many of our clients are surprised to discover that founding lawyer Dennis O'Brien was a police officer prior to his criminal defense career. As a former Field Training Officer for the Memphis Police Department, he has over two decades of knowledge and experience in the criminal justice system. Dennis truly understands the nuance and complexities involved in a criminal defense case. This rare experience gives Dennis a clear edge in any criminal defense case and gives clients priceless peace of mind when they need it the most. Unlike some criminal defense attorneys in Tybee Island, Dennis O'Brien and his team believe that every client deserves effective, empathetic legal assistance. While some Tybee Island criminal defense firms will take weekends off or pass along cases to paralegals, Dennis personally reviews each of his cases. There is no case too small or big for O'Brien Law Firm PC. When you hire our firm, you can rest easy knowing that we will be by your side when the going gets tough.
When you are charged with a drug crime in Tybee Island, it can change your life forever. Georgia imposes very strict punishments for drug offenses. The truth is, it's hard to get your life back on track with a drug charge on your record. Your freedom and way of life could be in the hands of your criminal defense attorney. As such, you need a competent lawyer with years of experience handling drug cases. Leaving your fate in the hands of an incompetent attorney could have long-lasting effects on your family and may result in a conviction.
While the consequences for a drug crime in Georgia are serious, there's reason to be hopeful: O'Brien Law Firm PC is here to fight for you. Remember - being charged with a drug crime is NOT the same thing as being convicted.
Our stellar team has represented many clients facing numerous drug-related charges. While each situation varies, one constant remains the same for clients facing drug charges: a fear of what lies ahead. At O'Brien Law Firm PC our job is to help you overcome the fear of the unknown. We do so by ensuring you understand your charges, the possible outcomes associated with those charges, and the options you need to consider from a criminal defense standpoint.
No matter what charge you are facing, our team has the experience and resources to build a comprehensive defense strategy for your drug case in Tybee Island, GA. Without a criminal defense attorney acting as your advocate, you could be facing very harsh penalties. Here are a few punishments you could be facing for drug crimes in Tybee Island:
Having less than a gram (or one milliliter for liquids) of this type of drug results in a prison term of one to three years. Having four grams or milliliter carries a term of one to eight years.
Any substance on this list is punishable by a prison sentence of one to three years.
If you have less than two grams or milliliters of this substance, punishments can be between one year and three years. Having up to four grams or milliliters results in a prison sentence of one to eight years.
Those who are in possession of less than an ounce of marijuana are subject to a jail sentence of up to 12 months. Fines may be no more than $1,000. Possession of more than an ounce of marijuana can result in a prison term of one to 10 years.
To avoid these life-changing punishments, you must take action now. Contact O'Brien Law Firm today for a consultation about your case.
Contact Me!Violent crime offenses in Tybee Island typically involve some form of bodily harm to another individual, actions committed against an individual's will, or threatening someone with bodily harm. Aggravated violent offenses are more severe charges and often occur when a violent crime is made more serious due to circumstances like deadly weapons.
Much like serious drug cases, violent crimes create an added layer of negativity that follows the accused for the rest of their life. In these cases, even an accusation is enough to cause irreparable damage to a person's reputation. Those convicted of a violent crime face severe penalties that can include years in a correctional facility.
When you are accused of any of the above crimes, your freedom hangs in the balance. The outcome of your case will determine whether you leave the courtroom with your freedom intact or stripped away to serve time behind bars. Because the punishments for violent crimes are so extreme, you should be seeking legal counsel from a criminal defense attorney in Tybee Island, GA, as soon as possible. As a former police officer with a long record of positive verdicts in violent crime cases, Dennis O'Brien is well equipped to represent you in court.
Having a criminal defense lawyer by your side is the best way to avoid the serious punishments associated with violent crimes. These punishments usually result in prison time if convicted and include: | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Forced rape: | 20 years | |||
Armed robbery: | Up to 20 years | |||
Simple assault: | Up to 12 months | |||
Aggravated assault: | 10 to 20 years | |||
Aggravated battery: | Up to 20 years | |||
Involuntary manslaughter: | One to 20 years | |||
Vehicular homicide | Up to 15 years | |||
Murder: | Life in prison or the death sentence |
As a former police officer, Dennis O'Brien has seen the toll it takes on a person when charged with a crime. His time in law enforcement allows him to empathize with his clients who desperately need competent representation. Despite being innocent until proven guilty, accusations are scary, and conviction could be a reality. That is why you must work with a trustworthy criminal defense lawyer in Tybee Island, GA who will work tirelessly to clear your name.
Clients choose O'Brien Law Firm because we believe in open communication, honesty, and hard work. It is not our job to act as judges for those who have been accused of crimes. Rather, our goal is to find the best defense that allows us to protect our clients' rights and freedoms.
Driving under the influence (DUI) is one of the most common crimes committed in Georgia. Punishments for such a crime can be severe, and for understandable reasons - when a person operates a vehicle while they are intoxicated, they're putting their life and the lives of others at risk.
While DUI is a serious crime that completely upend the accused's life, the earnest desire to end drunk driving can make police officers too eager to catch a person who they believe is under the influence.
The city of Tybee Island, Georgia, has implemented severe punishments for DUI, even for first-time offenders. Individuals charged with DUI in Tybee Island could face:
Fortunately, if you or someone you love has been charged with DUI, there is hope. This is particularly true when the accused is administered a breath or blood test for DUI. In fact, cases that involve a breath and/or blood test are beaten daily. When you hire O'Brien Law Firm PC, we will dive deep into your DUI case in Tybee Island and examine every angle possible for your case to be dismissed. Here are just a few questions our team will investigate:
There are numerous ways to beat a DUI case in Georgia, from unreliable field sobriety tests to inaccurate state-administered breath tests. As a veteran criminal defense lawyer in Tybee Island, GA, Dennis O'Brien has the knowledge and experience to expose the state's mistakes and fight for your rights. When you hire O'Brien Law Firm PC your chances of dismissal are greatly increased. When your case is dismissed, you can continue living life without the burden of a criminal record.
If you or someone you love is accused of a crime in Tybee Island, GA, don't leave fate up to the prosecution. Take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your family before it's too late.
Contact usEarlier this week, volunteers at the Tybee Island Marine Science Center inventoried a nest of sea turtles like they have done many times since the beginning of May, when the Georgia coast's annual sea turtle nesting season commenced. However, this nest was a bit different from the other 31 nests, which held the eggs of loggerheads.Chantal Audran, executive director of the center, said that they call them their "hometown girls" because 99.8% of Tybee's nest are made by loggerhead sea turtles.This one nes...
Earlier this week, volunteers at the Tybee Island Marine Science Center inventoried a nest of sea turtles like they have done many times since the beginning of May, when the Georgia coast's annual sea turtle nesting season commenced. However, this nest was a bit different from the other 31 nests, which held the eggs of loggerheads.
Chantal Audran, executive director of the center, said that they call them their "hometown girls" because 99.8% of Tybee's nest are made by loggerhead sea turtles.
This one nest, however, held green sea turtles.
Audran and her team noticed immediately that it was a different type of turtle, Audran said, because they are so used to loggerheads. "I've been in the field for 20 years, and I've never seen a green sea turtle hatchling."
Audran explained how the turtles get their name. "They eat a lot of algae, all of that chlorophyll dyes their soft membranes, so around their eyes and in other places their fatty tissues green, so we know he was a green sea turtle immediately because even the babies look really different. They have much more almondy eyes, and he was gray almost, and we're used to black, and dark brown loggerheads. I've only raised loggerheads myself, so when you hold that animal in your hand, you're immediately like, oh, this is not one."
She added, "That's why the green sea turtle was so exciting, and such a big fun surprise, we've had very few in our past."
Green sea turtles are one of five of the most common species of sea turtles found on Georgia's barrier islands. The others are loggerheads, leatherbacks, Kemp's ridley and hawksbills, with loggerheads being the most prevalent. Green sea turtles don't often nest on Tybee's beaches, however, but Audran said their appearance isn't necessarily indicative of anything.
"Sea turtles like to go back to nest on the same beach that they're born on," Audran said. "Or they will go back to the same spot they've been nesting, so it's irregular to see a neophyte, as we call them, come to our beach."
More:Here’s how many eggs sea turtles laid on Georgia beaches this year
More:Georgia's record breaking sea turtle nesting season winds to a close
More:Summertime dredging in Georgia threatens sea turtles; Corps allowed to kill 214 loggerheads
Every year at the beginning of May, Tybee Island Sea Turtle volunteers walk the beach every morning, looking for turtle tracks. Once the tracks are found, the nest is located and marked.
"We know when they're going to hatch, so we let them naturally hatch," Audran said. "We don't involve ourselves in that process. What we do, though, is five days after it naturally hatches, we go back and excavate that nest. We're going to take everything out of that two-foot hole, and count the number of hatched eggs, unhatched eggs, and how many stragglers, and sometimes there's dead stragglers; sometimes there's no stragglers."
A mother sea turtle will drop between 100 and 125 eggs, usually at night, then return to the sea. Stragglers are baby turtles that don't get out of the nest and into the water. Out of that range, 10 green sea turtles straggled behind out of the most recent nest.
After the volunteers inventory the nest, they take them down into the shoreline and release them.
"All of those 10 stragglers are released back into the ocean, but it's really a great moment to be able to see another species," Audran said.
The science center raises one straggler to be its marine debris ambassador for three years. Although they are currently shopping for a new one since their current ambassador, Ike, is due to be released Sept. 23, they couldn't keep any of the green sea turtles.
"We keep loggerheads because they are threatened in our state, but they're not endangered," Audran said. "Georgia has a lot of great numbers of loggerheads, but green sea turtles are endangered."
Caswell Beach in North Carolina also recorded its first green sea turtle nest this year. Theresea Putman, one of the co-coordinators of the Caswell Beach Turtle Watch, said she didn't really know why it happened. Caswell also normally has majority loggerheads.
"Other than population growing, the weather, climate change may have something to do with it," Putnam said. "I'm not really sure. As far as we know it's the first green sea nest Caswell has ever had."
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at daubus@gannett.com.
TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Tybee Island’s city manager officially turning in his resignation.City Manager Shawn Gillen has been on a medical leave since June.Tybee City Council will vote on whether or not to accept it on Thursday. In his letter, Gillen said he was resigning for health-related reasons.Shawn Gillen has been serving as Tybee’s city manager since August of 2017.His resignation letter starts by saying in summary that he’s sad to be submitting his resignation and that he was fortunate ...
TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Tybee Island’s city manager officially turning in his resignation.
City Manager Shawn Gillen has been on a medical leave since June.
Tybee City Council will vote on whether or not to accept it on Thursday. In his letter, Gillen said he was resigning for health-related reasons.
Shawn Gillen has been serving as Tybee’s city manager since August of 2017.
His resignation letter starts by saying in summary that he’s sad to be submitting his resignation and that he was fortunate to serve Tybee. Gillen says due to circumstances with his health, he must step down and focus on his recovery. He says Tybee is a special place and his family will be sticking around for many years.
Michelle Owens has been acting as interim city manager. She was an assistant city manager before Gillen went on extended leave during the summer.
Tybee’s mayor sent WTOC a statement on his resignation sent to her and city council members. Mayor Shirley Session says in summary that Owens will stay in the interim city manager role until further notice. Sessions says while the city council decides its next steps, Tybee is in capable hands. She goes on to say, no matter what happens, they are grateful to Gillen for six years of leadership and wish him and his family the best.
It’s not clear what health concerns he’s facing. His letter says his last day would be Thursday.
Also on Thursday, we’ll be sure to keep you updated on the council’s decision to accept or deny his resignation.
Mayor Sessions full statement is below:
“Tybee Island City Manager Shawn Gillen has tendered his resignation to the City Council, effective September 28, 2023. Acting City Manager Michelle Owens has filled the city manager role since May, when Mr. Gillen took an extended leave of absence, and will continue to do so until further notice. The resignation is contingent on council approval at Thursday night’s city council meeting.
“Until the city council decides its next steps, our city is in very capable hands with the acting city manager and an amazing team of city employees.” said Mayor Shirley Sessions. “No matter what happens, we are grateful to Shawn for six years of leadership and wish only the best for him and his family.”
Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.
Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB NewsThe Tybee Island City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that calls for state and federal lawmakers to consider restricting access to the island when it becomes overly crowded by events which “overwhelm” the city's capacity.This comes in the wake of last month's Orange Crush festival, when an estimated 40,000 to...
Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News
The Tybee Island City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that calls for state and federal lawmakers to consider restricting access to the island when it becomes overly crowded by events which “overwhelm” the city's capacity.
This comes in the wake of last month's Orange Crush festival, when an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people — mostly students from historically Black colleges and universities — visited Tybee, in part leading to massive traffic backups and concerns over safety on the beach.
“I think we all have to be behind this, because this is about public safety, it's about infrastructure and it's about having control over keeping our resources, our people, our visitors, everyone safe,” Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions said ahead of the vote.
Among other measures, the resolution asks legislators to potentially pass a law that would restrict or even shut down U.S. Highway 80 — the only road leading into and out of Tybee Island.
Sessions added that the city does not have the authority to restrict access itself to either the highway — which is overseen by state and federal officials — or the public beach itself.
According to the most recent tourism study of Tybee Island, the city drew in an estimated 1.9 million annual visitors.
“I think sometimes it's easy for the people in Atlanta and wherever to forget about Tybee, and forget that we have a lot to deal with,” Sessions said. “And I think they're beginning to understand. They're seeing the overflow and the problems that traffic and crowds draw — that they hopefully want to help us have a safe experience for people who come here to visit.”
Tags: Tybee Island HBCU Georgia Savannah Atlanta Georgia Politics
Author
Savannah Reporter
Benjamin is the Savannah-based reporter for GPB, where he covers Coastal Georgia.
Prior to coming to Savannah, he freelanced in Bellingham, Washington, for public media outlets including NPR, Marketplace, and PRX. Previously, Benjamin hosted Morning Edition for WVIK, his hometown NPR member station in Rock Island, Ill. Before that, he served a news internship with NPR member station WBEZ in Chicago.
Benjamin is a graduate of the University of Nevada-Reno's journalism master's program, and earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from Augustana College in Rock Island.
AnimalsPosted: Sep 7, 2023 / 06:11 PM EDTTAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Dolphins were spotted during a dive training off the coast of Tybee Island in Georgia in a video released on Sept. 7.The Savannah Fire Department dive team captured the video of the pod of dolphins swimming around 20 miles off the shore. ...
Posted: Sep 7, 2023 / 06:11 PM EDT
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Dolphins were spotted during a dive training off the coast of Tybee Island in Georgia in a video released on Sept. 7.
The Savannah Fire Department dive team captured the video of the pod of dolphins swimming around 20 miles off the shore.
“The SFD dive team recently met some ocean friends during dive training!” they said in a post.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Labor Day bringing many folks out to the beaches on Tybee Island.Soaking up the sun, splashing in the waves and fishing off the pier.Many of the people WTOC spoke with said they feel there’s no better way to spend this holiday than relaxing at the beach.Some say this may be their last trip to the beach until next year, so for lots of people, this weekend marks the unofficial end of summer.“Me and the kids are out here enjoying Labor Day weekend. Trying to catch some sun, get ...
TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Labor Day bringing many folks out to the beaches on Tybee Island.
Soaking up the sun, splashing in the waves and fishing off the pier.
Many of the people WTOC spoke with said they feel there’s no better way to spend this holiday than relaxing at the beach.
Some say this may be their last trip to the beach until next year, so for lots of people, this weekend marks the unofficial end of summer.
“Me and the kids are out here enjoying Labor Day weekend. Trying to catch some sun, get a little bit of exercise, probably get in this water and you know, try not to have too much fun,” Tybee Visitor Dylan Belcher said.
“We was at the beach, relaxing, enjoying this weather. We don’t have no beaches at home so enjoying the weather, enjoying the beach. It’s a good vibe,” Tybee Visitor Tyrone Simmerson said.
Simmerson is visiting from all the way from Mississippi. He said he knew Tybee was the place he wanted to spend this weekend because all he wanted to do was decompress by the ocean.
Business owners say they’re grateful for the foot traffic Labor Day brings to the island.
The owner of Boardwalk Ice Cream on Tybrisa Street says this weekend brought one of the busiest days of the summer. He says on Saturday his shop was packed from open until close.
That’s the kind of business he says is crucial this time of year.
“It’s a, it’s a little slow for a few, few weeks leading up to Labor Day, so this is kind of a good, good little extra bump to get us through the winter,” said Allen Newkirk.
Newkirk says although some mark this weekend as the unofficial end of summer, he’s hoping that with these warm temperatures, locals will continue to come out and cool off with his ice cream.
Meanwhile, some people said it was there first time out here on Tybee and they’re already looking forward to coming again.
“Well, we thought it was a great day to come out to Tybee because we did a lot of cleanup after the storm and we just needed to get out of the house and enjoy this beautiful day. There’s not a care in the world out here. I mean there’s nothing to do except just enjoy the sun and lay on the beach, enjoy the water,” said Janice and Jim Ambler.
The Ambler’s say they turn to Tybee when they need a place to forget all their worries.
Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.