Brown Law Office OVI/DUI News

The Ninth District Court of Appeals recently held in State v. Ray Rogers, 2017-Ohio-357, that an officer’s observations that a motorist admitted to drinking, had bloodshot eyes, and smelled of alcohol, coupled with the “crucial fact” that the motorist was involved in a single car accident, was sufficient to support a finding of probable cause to arrest the motorist for suspicion of OVI.   The finding of probable cause was upheld notwithstanding the fact that the HGN test was excluded for lack of substantial compliance with the NHTSA manual, and the walk and turn and one-legged stand tests were afforded “little weight” given that the officer’s body camera video contradicted his testimony.  A  link to the decision can be found here.

https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2017/2017-Ohio-357.pdf

The Ray Rogers decision is consistent with recent Ninth District OVI precedent that places tremendous importance on whether a motorist was driving erratically in determining whether an officer had reasonable suspicion to require field sobriety tests or probable cause to arrest. In State v. Hochstetler, 2016-Ohio-8389, the Ninth District held that an officer had reasonable suspicion to require a motorist to perform field sobriety tests despite the fact that the motorist denied drinking, there was no odor of alcohol or drugs, and the motorist was not slurring his speech.  In upholding the trial court’s finding that the officer had reasonable suspicion to require field sobriety tests, the Ninth District placed particular emphasis on the motorist’s erratic driving, which included swerving into the opposite lane and nearly causing an accident with an oncoming vehicle.  A link to that decision can be found here.

https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2016/2016-Ohio-8389.pdf

Contact the OVI/DUI attorneys at the Brown Law office today at 330-601-0101 for a free consultation.  As members of the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys, we have the experience and resources to effectively defend your OVI/DUI case.