Two days ago, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision clarifying how specific a motion to suppress must be for the defendant to receive an evidentiary hearing on the motion. In State v. Codeluppi (2014), the Court concluded: “[A] highly detailed pleading of the facts and law is not required…
I recently represented a client for a DUI / OVI in a juvenile court near Columbus, Ohio. The case went to trial, and I was sharing my experience with a colleague. The colleague happened to be coordinating a DUI / OVI seminar for the Columbus Bar Association, and he asked…
Intoxilyzer 8000 Declared Unreliable In Ohio DUI/OVI Case This blog has discussed Intoxilyzer 8000 litigation in many previous posts. One of those posts (November 18, 2012) mentioned the case of State v. Lancaster in the Marietta Municipal Court. I was asked to help with that litigation as counsel for Lancaster.…
For the second time in two months, the Ohio Supreme Court decided a case interpreting the discovery rules that apply to Ohio DUI/OVI cases and criminal cases. A previous post in this blog discussed ‘recent’ changes to the rules for discovery, the exchange of evidence between the prosecution and defense.…
William Strebler was lucky and unlucky. When he drove his car between two parked trucks, nobody was killed or injured. That’s pretty lucky. After he was found guilty of driving under the influence of his prescribed pain medicine, his conviction was affirmed by the court of appeals, and he had…
There is little tolerance for drunk driving in Mumbai, India. Like Ohio, the penalty for a first D.U.I. offense in India is up to six months in jail. Unlike Ohio, the legal limit for blood alcohol content in India is .03 (Ohio’s is .08), and there is no plea bargaining.…
Plea bargaining is an under-rated lawyering skill. Each Law And Order episode has about one minute of plea negotiations and 20 minutes of trial. That show would have us believe every case goes to trial. The reality is that fewer than five percent of criminal cases go to trial. The…
I’m moving my office to a new location. Beginning in October of 2011, my office is located in suite 450 of the Mettler Toledo building at 1900 Polaris Parkway in Columbus, Ohio. The building is pretty hard to miss: it’s a six-story office building at the intersection of Interstate 71…
As a D.U.I. defense attorney, this is one of the most frequently asked questions I receive (second only to “how can you do that?”). The answer is surprisingly complicated: it depends on factors that include how much alcohol you drank, whether you are more concerned about the short-term or long-term…
The last two posts of this blog have addressed two frequently asked questions: (1) should I contest my D.U.I. charge? and (2) should I represent myself in a D.U.I.? This post discusses a common follow-up question: if I have decided to contest my D.U.I. charge and I’m not going to…