ATLANTA (WGXA) -- The Georgia Supreme Court has held that a DUI suspect who refused to give a urine sample can't have his refusal admitted into evidence by State prosecutors.

In AWAD v. THE STATE, the Justices ruled that doing so compels the defendant to possibly incriminate himself, a violation of Georgia's Constitution.

The Appellant, Omar Awad, was arrested in November 2018 after a police officer found Awad sleeping in the driver's seat of a vehicle while parked in the middle of an intersection.

Awad refused to give a urine sample after his arrest. His charges included traffic violations and driving under the influence.

The Whitfield County trial court granted a motion that Awad made before his trial to keep his urine test refusal out of the courtroom.

But the State appealed that motion, and the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's ruling.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals. Awad's case will return to the trial court.

Justice Verda Colvin wrote the unanimous opinion, stating that Georgia's Constitution only clarifies "testimony" regarding compelled self-incrimination. But in prior cases, she wrote that the Court has concluded that the State also cannot compel a defendant to commit an act that could lead to self-incrimination.

The Court has previously held that citizens have a right to refuse state-given breath tests that require deep lung, or alveolar, air. The Court has also previously held that a refusal to give a breath test can't be admitted into evidence.

The Court held that since the evidence couldn't have been collected from Awad in a way that was either natural or automatic, he had a right to refuse the test.