Tag Archives: Ohio OVI Attorney

ABC News reported that former Americna Idol star Caleb Andrew Kennedy was charged with DUI resulting in death.  At age 17, Kennedy faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the charge.  Kennedy’s crash occurred in South Carolina.  What penalties would a driver face if charged with an equivalent offense in Ohio? Read More »

State and federal governments have implemented various methods to combat impaired driving in the United States.  One approach was creating DUI per se laws which made it illegal to operate a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of .10 or higher.  That ‘per se limit’ was later lowered to .08.  Other methods have included sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, and public relations campaigns.  The newest strategy, included in the federal 2021 Infrastructure Bill, is to install impaired driving detection systems in ... Read More »

It’s New Year’s Eve.  Some call it ‘amateur night’ because people who do not drink alcohol regularly will be drinking tonight.  And some of them will be driving afterward.  If you can avoid driving tonight, you should.  If you can’t avoid driving tonight, it is definitely a time to be extra careful.  You should be cautious about the other drivers on the road, and you should be responsible about your own condition.  You should also be aware that law enforcement ... Read More »

Accident reconstruction evidence was the subject of a recent appellate case in Ohio.  Everyone has heard of accident reconstruction, but most people do not know much about it.  This raises the question of whether accident reconstruction evidence involves ‘expert testimony’.  That question was answered by the Ohio appellate court in State v. Davis.  That case illustrates the significance of the ‘expert testimony’ label and contains important lessons for Ohio attorneys who handle cases of OVI, Vehicular Assault, and Vehicular Homicide. Read More »

Ohio law prohibits operating a vehicle with prohibited levels of drug metabolites in one’s blood or urine.  The law is inconsistent with science, but attacks on the law’s validity have been unsuccessful.  A new case from the Ohio Supreme Court on the issue of drug metabolites hints that the Court may be open to examining the validity of Ohio’s drugged driving law. Read More »

Why would somebody want to read a book about Ohio Vehicular Homicide or Ohio Vehicular Assault?  Most people wouldn’t.  The topic is not especially interesting to people, except maybe those who love crime documentaries.  And those who are charged with Vehicular Homicide or Vehicular Assault.  For them, these books instantly become a must-read. Read More »

When we consider the impact of a DUI (called ‘OVI in Ohio), we typically think of the sentence imposed by the court.  The sentence for a first-offense OVI in Ohio includes a mandatory jail term of three days to 180 days, a mandatory license suspension for one year to three years, and a mandatory fine of $375 to $1,075.  In addition to those mandatory aspects of the sentence in court, there are secondary consequences for an OVI conviction.  One of ... Read More »

Picture a woman standing in her garage beside her car.  The engine is not running, but the car is ‘on’ with the radio playing.  Police arrive at her residence, enter the garage, and give her field sobriety tests.  The officers determine she is under the influence of alcohol, arrest her, and charge her with DUI (called ‘OVI’ in Ohio).  Can she be convicted of OVI? Read More »

Sherry Tidwell was backing out of a parking space at a convenience store, and there happened to be a police officer in the parking lot.  A man in the doorway of the store yelled to the officer, “Hey, you need to stop that vehicle.  That lady is drunk.”  The officer watched as Tidwell backed slowly out of the parking space and then drove slowly toward the road.  The officer noticed that Tidwell had a blank stare, and the officer was ... Read More »

Every state has a law which prohibits driving under the influence of marijuana.  To enforce those laws, governments use roadside field sobriety tests to detect marijuana intoxication and laboratory tests to measure THC levels in blood and urine.  The use of these tests is premised on the belief that performance on field sobriety tests and THC levels are correlated with marijuana intoxication.  A recent study conducted for the United States Department of Justice shows that belief is wrong. Read More »