[caption id="" align="alignright" width="144" caption="Image by cobalt123 via Flickr"][/caption]Drunken driving fatalities in U.S. drop over 1/3 between 1982 and 2006. This large drop occurred in spite of dramatic increases during the same period in the number of vehicle miles traveled, registered motor vehicles on the road, licensed drivers, and population of the country. ...
Continue readingImage via WikipediaSenate Bill 8 criminally penalizes motorists who drive with levels of THC above 2 ng/ml in their blood and/or levels of the inactive marijuana metabolite THC-COOH in their urine above 35 ng/ml. Ohio is only the third state to pass per se DUID (driving under the influence of drugs) legislation for motorists with trace levels of THC in their blood, and it is the sixth to criminalize motorists who drive with levels of non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites in their bodily fluid.NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano called SB 8 an "all out assault on Ohio's marijuana smoking community." He said: "THC...
Continue readingImage by Adrian Short via FlickrOhio City Attempts to Undermine Traffic Camera ReferendumChillicothe, Ohio attempts to undermine November referendum on the use of photo enforcement.Activists in Chillicothe, Ohio vowed on Monday to fight efforts to sabotage a referendum on the use of traffic cameras. Residents signed a petition demanding the right to have a vote in November on whether to keep or outlaw red light cameras and speed cameras. Once on the ballot, no referendum of this type has ever failed to pass, and Chillicothe officials are doing what it takes to ensure that never happens. Assistant Law Director James...
Continue reading[caption id="" align="alignright" width="210" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]State v. McFeely, 3/30/2009, 2009-Ohio-1436, 11th District Court of Appeals: Every prosecuting attorney is taught that they must prove each and every element of the offense including venue, jurisdiction, identification, date and time.Well, maybe not. The Eleventh Dist. Court of Appeals recently held (in a DUI case of course) that date was not an essential element of the offense. The big deal here is that date has always been considered an element of the offense and not just a procedural bugaboo. Holding police and prosecutors to the highest standards...
Continue readingNEWARK, Ohio (AP) - Authorities in Ohio say a man has been charged with drunken driving after crashing his motorized bar stool. Police in Newark, 30 miles east of Columbus, say when they responded to a report of a crash with injuries on March 4, they found a man who had wrecked a bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawn mower. Twenty-eight-year Kile Wygle was hospitalized for minor injuries. Police say he was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he told an officer at the hospital that he had consumed...
Continue reading[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Charles Rowland has been a trial attorney in Ohio since 1995"][/caption]CONDUCT THAT MAY LEAD TO A MISTRIAL IN OHIOBY THE PROSECUTORBadgering and harassing the defendant or one of the defendant’s witnesses Referring to inadmissible evidence Forcing the defense to continually object to irrelevant evidence Uncorrected misstatements of law Discovery violations, including violations of the continuing obligation to disclose information, if so provided by state law.BY THE JUDGEPrejudicial statements Reference to or mention of inadmissible evidence Stating the judge’s own opinion so as to invade the province of the jury Asking questions and making objections for one side so as to invade the province...
Continue readingImage via Wikipedia60 Minutes did a great story on false eyewitness identification. It is startling to see Lesley Stahl choose the wrong "perp" just after it is explained to her how she will be tricked. While the issue of false eyewitness identification rarely occurs in a DUI/OVI case, good trial attorneys will use whatever they can to extricate their clients from a false criminal charge....
Continue reading[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="www.OhioDUIdefense.com"][/caption]State v. Bruce (2008), 2008-Ohio-5514, is the Second District's latest "destruction of evidence" ruling. Here, the court granted a motion to provide the blood sample to the Defendant's expert. The lab was not copied on this order. The 2nd District held that the State did show substantial compliance with the Ohio Administrative Code and the fact that the lab destroyed the blood after the Court granted an Order to provide a specimen of blood to defendant's expert. The court found that there was no bad faith in the destruction...
Continue readingStatement of Attribution to Andrea C. Rehkamp, Executive Director, MADD Southwestern Ohio Affiliate (COLUMBUS, Ohio) – February 21, 2008 – In Ohio alone, there are 147,000 people who have been convicted of three or more DUI offenses with more than 33,000 of those people having five or more DUI convictions. Drivers who are intoxicated will continue to get behind the wheel because they can. That’s why states across the country – including Ohio – are considering legislation that requires alcohol ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers. Families of victims/survivors of drunk driving, like that of William Sandlin, deserve more. Butler County resident...
Continue readingFor operator's of a commercial vehicle requiring a CDL it is a criminal offense to drive (not operate) a commercial vehicle with a detectable amount of alcohol or controlled substance in the blood, breath or urine or with an alcohol concentration of .04% or more. In addition, if the concentration is high enough, truckers face the possibility of being prosecuted under the standard D.U.I. law. Pursuant to O.R.C. 4506.15(F) it is a criminal offense for a commercial driver to refuse to submit to alcohol or drug testing. If the driver refuses his/her CDL will be administratively suspended by the Bureau of...
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