OVI in Xenia Ohio: Everything you need to know

Charged with an OVI near Xenia?

Xenia OVI and DUI Lawyer Charles M. Rowland II can help you win your case in the Xenia Municipal Court.  He has been practicing in the court since 1995 and has worked hard to make himself Xenia’s choice for DUI defense. He has also served as Xenia Municipal Court prosecuting attorney. Twice yearly he helps the Greene County Police Academy by conducting mock “motions to suppress.” Charles has served as an special prosecutor in both the Xenia Municipal Court and the Greene County Court of Common Pleas.

He has created Xenia specific resources to provide detailed information about the court, public access to your case, bond schedules, and other important information about your case.  If you find yourself in need of a qualified and experienced attorney, call him.

The Xenia Court and your OVI Case

Xenia Municipal Court, and the honorable Michael Murry, has jurisdiction over OVI/DUI violations of any ordinance of any municipal corporation within its territory.  The Xenia Municipal Court has jurisdiction for the cities of Xenia and Bellbrook; the villages of Yellow Springs, Cedarville, Jamestown, Spring Valley, and Bowersville; and the townships of Sugarcreek, Xenia, Cedarville, New Jasper, Silvercreek, Ceasarcreek, Miami, Jefferson, Ross, and Spring Valley.

The Court’s jurisdiction also includes four college campuses: Central State University, Wilberforce University, Cedarville College, and Antioch College.  Law enforcement agencies located within the jurisdiction of the court include: Bellbrook Police Department; Cedarville Police Department; Central State University Police Department; Greene County Animal Control; Greene County Sheriff’s Office; Greene County Parks District; Jamestown Police Department; Ohio Department of Parks and Natural Resources; Ohio Department of Wildlife; Ohio State Highway Patrol; Spring Valley Police Department; Sugarcreek Township Police Department; Wilberforce University Police Department; Xenia Police Division; and Yellow Springs Police Department.

Location:

Xenia Municipal Court is located on the second floor of Xenia City Hall, 101 N. Detroit Street, Xenia, Ohio.  This building is located just to the south of the Greene County Courthouse in downtown Xenia.

Hours of Operation:

Contact Information:

HOW THE RIGHT OVI ATTORNEY CAN HELP YOU WIN YOUR CASE. 

Yes, you CAN beat your OVI charge in the Xenia Court.

HIRE THE BEST XENIA OVI DEFENSE LAWYER

• • • The most important decision that you can make in defending your case in the Xenia courthouse is hiring the right defense attorney. OVI defense involves understanding Ohio’s complex impaired driving laws and you should find someone who is an expert with this. Your attorney should be familiar with the Ohio Administrative Code, the breath test device and field sobriety testing. A good defense attorney also stays current on all manners of science which may affect your case and will change over time. Defense begins with an attorney who has the experience to fight your case. And, possesses the scientific knowledge to attack in the right places to win. Your lawyer should credibly negotiate with the prosecuting attorney to secure the best outcome.

ILLEGAL POLICE STOP 

• • • Your case may be dismissed if the officer lacked proper cause to initiate a traffic stop. The 4th Amendment requires an officer have a reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed or about to be committed before making a traffic stop. Any minor traffic offense could supply reasonable suspicion.
    • Examples include speeding, weaving, an accident, expired plates, or a failure to activate headlights.
    • Upon being stopped the officer must establish an clear reason to continue your detention to do an alcohol/drunk driving investigation.

IMPROPER ADMINISTRATION OF STANDARDIZED FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

• • • The results are compromised if an officer improperly administers the field tests. Officers often gives faulty instructions or misunderstands how to administer the tests. We see officers hold the accused to impossible standards. When a test is improperly administered it amounts to nothing more than “Stupid Human Tricks.” Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST) were developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to help determine the level of intoxication of a driver without chemical testing.
      When an OVI suspect refuses a chemical test, the tests can be important evidence of intoxication. The NHTSA has guidelines as to how the standardized field sobriety tests must be given. If the arresting officer fails to substantially comply with the guidelines established by the NHTSA, then the results of the tests are not admissible as evidence against the defendant. Your Xenia OVI defense attorney will be familiar with the standardized tests, the NHTSA manual and have experience cross-examining an arresting officer.

FAULTY INTERPRETATION OF THE STANDARDIZED FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

• • • The officer may say all of the right things to get a valid field sobriety test, and still improperly interpret what he or she is seeing. Your Xenia OVI attorney is there for you to review any video of the stop to make sure that your fields tests were fairly administered and properly scored. Officers can (and do) misinterpret the performance of the SFST’s, and determine the performance to be a failure. The combination of the dashboard video and aggressive cross examination of the arresting officers will determine whether an OVI defendant actually failed the SFST’s, or if the arresting officer made a mistake If the defendant did not actually fail the SFST’s, the results will serve as evidence that the defendant was not intoxicated.

UNLAWFUL ARREST NOT SUPPORTED BY PROBABLE CAUSE

• • • The officer must continue the investigation until probable cause exists for an OVI arrest, assuming the officer has made a valid traffic stop. Often, an officer intending to determine whether probable cause exists for an OVI arrest will make the arrest before this determination is made. If this happens, the officer has made an unlawful arrest. In this event, all evidence obtained after the arrest may be deemed inadmissible in court. It may constitute an unlawful arrest when placing a suspect in a patrol car or ordering a suspect to follow directions before determining a suspect’s sobriety. When this happens, any evidence obtained regarding intoxication may be deemed inadmissible in court.

OFFICER ERROR PRIOR TO CHEMICAL TESTING

• • • Statements made after the accused is in custody may be  excluded unless a proper Miranda warning was given. The officer must also satisfy a 20 minute observation period prior to administering an evidential breath test. The breath test must be given within three hours of operation. The officer must make sure that the testing conditions are free from radio frequency interference and that the testing location is not otherwise compromised.
      Prior to requesting a suspect to submit to a chemical test, the arresting officer is required inform the driver of the consequences of submitting to the test, the driver’s right to refuse to submit to the test and the consequences for so refusing. If the driver submits to the test, he may be providing the State with evidence of intoxication. Failure of the arresting officer to advise the suspect of the above may render the results of the test, or the refusal inadmissible, and may fail to justify a license suspension. Your Xenia OVI lawyer should have a firm understanding of the Ohio Administrative Code and its requirements for a proper chemical test.

BAD BREATH: A FLAWED BREATH MACHINE

• • • In addition to the defenses that arise prior to the administration of the chemical test, there are also potential defenses present in the administration of the test. Your Xenia defense attorney will be familiar with the Ohio Administrative Code requirements regarding calibration and officer performance. You should ask your defense attorney to show you the “guts” of the tests that are available at the Ohio Department of Health website. You should only hire an attorney who has become certified on the breath test machine or attended sufficient specialized training so that he or she can spot any issues with the results. Machines, despite what some may say, are far from perfect and often a keen eye will result in a “Not Guilty.”

DISCOVERY, DISCOVERY, DISCOVERY

• • • Your OVI attorney cannot defend you against an issue he or she does not know exists. An experienced OVI defense attorney will get proper discovery to explore every possible defense. Filing motions for discovery, motions to preserve evidence and expeditiously obtaining the evidence is a good start. In every OVI case, I submit a comprehensive discovery request for every type of evidence possible. I contact the law enforcement agency directly to place it on notice to preserve evidence. This evidence includes dashboard videos and booking videos. These videos must be requested before they are destroyed. These videos can be indispensable in establishing exactly how a field test was administered. They show how a driver performed. Importantly, they can also establish whether a driver’s speech was slurred. Often, these videos contradict an officer’s allegations and exonerate the driver.

CREDIBILITY IS KING

• • • Plea negotiations: credibility, experience and knowledge. Credibility comes from presenting your case in a way that makes the prosecutor understand your arguments. Experience is knowing when and where to be persuasive. Most prosecutors disregard whiners, bullies and bullshit artists, so don’t do it. I always strive to earn the respect of every prosecutor I come into contact with. Knowledge about OVI defense in Xenia comes from being dedicated to learning as much as you can. We once had a slogan that said, “Is your attorney thinking of DUI defense right now? If not, call DaytonDUI.” I have practiced OVI defense since 1995. Most of those years include practicing DUI defense exclusively. I continue to try to establish myself as one of the best DUI / OVI attorneys in Ohio.

NOTING MATTERS IF YOU WON’T FIGHT

• • You can have the best defenses in the world, but they won’t matter unless you pursue them. A good attorney will not only pursue the best possible plea, but will prepare for trial. Your attorney should provide context and give you enough information to make a good decision. Your attorney has an obligation to give you information and abide by your decision. If you think you have a good chance of winning, make sure you hire the best attorney. In our office we say “good things happen at trial.” My motto is, “All I do is DUI defense.”

Driving Privileges In The Xenia

DUI Driver License Suspensions

If your license is suspended due to a DUI arrest, you may be eligible for limited driving privileges. There are two kinds of license suspensions in a DUI case. If you refuse a breath test, blood test, or urine test, or if you tested over the limit, you are subjected to an Administrative License Suspension by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. If you are found guilty of DUI, you are given a Court Suspension by the judge as part of the sentence for DUI.

Limited Driving Privileges

A court can authorize limited driving privileges. Historically, the privileges have been limited to: occupation, vocation, education, medical, license examination, and court-ordered treatment. A recent change in Ohio DUI law permits courts to grant privileges for other purposes.  Whether other purposes are permitted is up to each individual judge.

Certain cases require, as a condition of limited driving privileges, that you have yellow license plates and/or an ignition interlock device. The waiting period to obtain driving privileges varies depending on the number of prior convictions.  For details on the length of license suspensions and the length of waiting periods for privileges, see the pages of this blog or contact my office.

Driving Under Suspension

If caught driving on granted limited driving privileges, beware! You face prosecution for Driving Under Suspension. Driving under a DUI suspension. A DUI suspension requires a mandatory jail sentence, as well as an additional license suspension.

Obtaining driving privileges in the Xenia Municipal Court is available via an online petition available HERE via the court website.  The Clerks have been instructed by Judge Michael K. Murry to reject applications for driving privileges unless the requests comply with the following requirements:

1. The request must be completely legible.
2. The request must be completely legible.
3. The name, address, and telephone number of the applicant’s supervisor is evident on the application.

How To Obtain Driving Privileges In The Xenia Municipal Court

If the applicant is requesting driving privileges during working hours, then an explanation of why the applicant needs to have driving privileges during the workday is necessary (i.e., deliver pizzas, make sales calls etc.)  To obtain driving privileges in the Xenia Municipal Court, make your request specific. The applicant must explain where he or she needs to travel, the reason he or she needs to travel to that location, and the specific time of travel.  If the request is complicated, and especially if the request involves different travel requests for different days, then it is recommended that the applicant include a daily schedule on the back of the application. The daily schedule should include the days, hours, and destinations where the applicant would be driving should the Court grant privileges. A written explanation for the schedule should be on the front of the application.

If you are granted driving privileges in the Xenia Municipal Court, you will receive no more than 50 hours per week and no more than 5 days per week will be granted.  Proof of insurance must be included with the application.  Charles M. Rowland II and the staff at DaytonDUI will be available to assist you in preparing the application for driving privileges.  Our goal is to help you get your life back to normal and often, that means getting you driving privileges as soon as possible.  Obtaining driving privileges in the Xenia Municipal Court is available via an online petition available HERE via the court website.

Need to find your case?

The Xenia Municipal Court Case Lookup site has made looking up case information easy. Please click HERE for public information in the Xenia Municipal Court Case Lookup site. The public record information viewed on Xenia Municipal Court Public Access reflects the docket entries and information required by Ohio law to be kept by the Xenia Municipal Clerk of Courts. The Xenia Municipal Court Case Lookup information is current as of the previous business day and information is only updated every 24 hours, excluding weekends and legal holidays. There will be a delay between court filings and judicial action and the posting of such data by the Clerk of Courts for some or all of the filings types.

How To Dress For The Xenia Municipal Court

If you plan on visiting the Xenia Municipal Court, make sure that you are dressed appropriately. Here are the rules for courtroom attire and conduct that the court lists on its website. Courtroom Attire & Conduct:

To maintain respect for, and the dignity of, courtroom proceedings, the following guidelines apply:

• Proper dress is required for all court appearances. While no list can cover every situation, examples of improper clothing would include: short shorts; short skirts; tank tops; halter tops; clothing where undergarments are showing; sleeveless shirts; t-shirts with graphics or messages depicting drugs, alcohol, sex or disrespect for the law or the Court; and ripped or excessively dirty or greasy clothes.
• Shoes must be worn.
• Hats and sunglasses are to be removed before entering the courtroom.
• Use of cell phones, pagers, tablets or any other electronic device is prohibited. All electronic devices are to be turned off before entering the courtroom.
• There is to be no recording of any court proceeding without the approval of the judge in advance.
• Once entering the courtroom, please refrain from talking, unless when necessary for court proceedings. Foul or abusive language will not be tolerated.
• Food and drinks are prohibited in the courtroom.
• Anyone who in the court’s opinion is dressed inappropriately or violates one of these conduct expectations may be denied access by the Court Bailiffs or asked to leave by the Judge.