MARIETTA, Ga. — Cobb County's DUI Court is designed to give a second chance to people who have been charged multiple times with driving under the influence, while also holding them accountable.
Several years ago being sworn in to practice law in Georgia seemed impossible for Jacob Pruett. On Tuesday though Pruett, a recent graduate of the program, returned to Cobb's DUI Court and not only realized the impact of the second chance he received but achieved a lifelong dream.
Cobb County State Court Judge Eric Brewton, who oversees the county's DUI Court, administered Pruett's oath as he officially became a lawyer. It took place during the DUI Court's 45th graduation ceremony, a program Pruett recently graduated from himself.
Without the program, he doesn't believe he would have become a lawyer.
"Nobody graduates from law school and thinks a year later they're going to have two DUIs," said Pruett during an interview with 11Alive.
In 2016 Pruett graduated from law school at Georgia State University, but then he hit a significant roadblock on his way to becoming a lawyer. A drinking problem he used to cope with stress in school and life led to two 2017 arrests for driving under the influence in Cobb County in only a matter of months.
His attorney was able to strike a plea deal for Pruett. He pleaded guilty in both cases and agreed to enter the DUI Court program.
"When I was able to go into DUI Court that was very much my second chance," Pruett said. "I decided I would take everything the program had to offer me."
Pruett said in the program he found the person he was before his alcohol addiction.
DUI Court in Cobb County is for individuals meeting a list of eligibility requirements. The first is that they have either been charged with driving under the influence twice in the past 10 years, 3 or more times in their lifetime or once but also have a history of reckless driving convictions.
Since October 2008, 479 out of 643 people admitted to the program have graduated.
While the legal blood alcohol limit in Georgia is .08, the average BAC upon the arrest of people who end up in the program is .207.
"Everybody deserves a second chance, everybody does," said Brewton. "That is what we are about here in the court and I hope people understand that you can go do anything in life after you're through with this program."
Brewton said the program offers participants less jail time in exchange for them enrolling in intense counseling, taking an educational curriculum covering life and decision-making skills, submitting to regular drug and alcohol testing, as well as supervision, support, and treatment to reach sobriety.
The program lasts a minimum of 12 months but most participants spend more than a year completing the program.
"When they live a sober life the first thing that happens is public safety is increased because they will no longer be out on the roads driving under the influence of alcohol," Brewton said. "But secondly and this is probably the most rewarding part of it for us is that their lives are restored."
For Pruett, after his DUI arrests, becoming a lawyer appeared to be a lost dream. But after graduating from DUI Court with his life turned around he passed the Georgia Bar Examination which led to his swearing-in ceremony Tuesday.
"To swear in any lawyer to the Georgia Bar is a great honor, but swearing in Jacob is even a greater honor just to know that we have seen his journey and we are excited about his great success," Brewton said.
Traditionally in Georgia, county Superior Court judges administer the oath for swearing-in ceremonies of new lawyers in Georgia.
Pruett though requested Brewton administer his oath in DUI Court as a symbolic full-circle moment. Brewton then received special permission to administer Pruett's oath.
For Pruett, DUI Court turned what appeared to be a lost dream into a moment that was only delayed.
"It has given me the second chance to be a lawyer," Pruett said. "To be something, if not in the same way, that I have thought about being since I was a child."
Now he hopes to use his personal experience and journey through the legal system to practice law with empathy and hopefully help others find their second chance in the future.