Historically, if a driver refused to give a sample of blood, breath or urine, the driver’s license would immediately be suspended for refusing, but there would be no alcohol test to use as evidence against the driver. Things changed in 2009, when the Ohio legislature passed a law saying, if…
The last post for this blog discussed the defendant’s right to confront and cross examine the people responsible for the chemical test that determines a defendant’s blood alcohol level. On one hand, the United States Supreme Court strengthened this confrontation right in Melendez-Diaz. On the other hand, an Ohio court…
Imagine a case in which the defendant is not permitted to challenge the most critical evidence. For example, imagine a products liability case in which the plaintiff says, “we know the product was defective because we did scientific testing which showed it was defective.” The defendant would challenge the scientific…
In a previous post, I discussed the Intoxilyzer 8000. The Ohio Department of Health made a controversial purchase of 7000 of these breath-testing machines, and a few are being used in central Ohio D.U.I./O.V.I. cases. In the previous post, I said I would give developments from my first 8000 case.…
Breath-testing machines have been used for O.V.I. (D.U.I.) in Ohio for decades. Until recently, the breath-testing instruments approved by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) were the BAC Datamaster and the Intoxilyzer 5000. In 2009, the Ohio Department of Health approved the use of the Intoxilyzer 8000. In addition, the…
A police officer is only authorized to administer breath tests in O.V.I. (D.U.I.) cases if the officer has a valid operator’s permit issued by the Ohio Department of Health. To obtain an operator permit, an officer must complete a basic operator training course. Operator permits expire one year after the…
When most people think of “Vega”, they think about the 1970s Chevrolet vehicle, named as one of the “10 most Embarrassing Award Winners in Automotive History” by CarAndDriver.com. When Ohio DUI attorneys think of Vega, we think about the Ohio Supreme Court decision regarding our ability to challenge the reliability…
Imagine that the police show up at your door and want to search your house. If you don’t consent, the police can’t search without a warrant or an applicable exception to the warrant requirement. Refusing to consent to a search is not ordinarily a criminal offense. In a recent case…