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Although Ohio courtrooms may not seem as dramatic and intriguing as those on C.S.I., crime laboratory tests are regularly a part of Ohio criminal cases. In Ohio DUI / OVI cases, and in drug-related cases, crime lab technicians use scientific tests to identify drugs. The lab techs write reports about the analyses and sometimes testify at trial about the tests. A recent case in an Ohio appellate court discusses the detailed procedure for using crime lab reports in Ohio DUI / OVI and criminal trials.

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The case is Kettering v. Maston. Maston was pulled over for a questionable marked lanes violation after leaving a known drug house. As one officer was writing a traffic ticket, another officer ran a drug dog around Maston’s vehicle. The drug dog alerted, and the officers searched Maston’s passenger compartment. The officers seized a container of pills which they suspected were controlled substances and charged Maston with Possessing Controlled Substances.

The officers sent the pills to the crime laboratory at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI). A laboratory technician analyzed the pills and wrote a report. The report identified the pills as Alprazolam (Xanax). The report was delivered to the prosecuting attorney.

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Myrtle Beach, for the second year in-a-row, was the site for a seminar and retreat for the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (OACDL). I intended to go last year, but the timing didn’t work with my schedule. When it came up again this year, I made the event a priority on my calendar. I’m so glad I did. The unique seminar format, the interesting topics and the camaraderie made for a great experience.

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The continuing education part of the retreat was unique. Rather than having the room arranged like a classroom, the tables were set up in a rectangle, like a meeting.  It also didn’t hurt to have the beach as a backdrop.  The speakers, rather than giving a monologue presentation, facilitated lively discussions.

 

Medical Marijuana And Ohio Law
One topic we discussed was marijuana. The Ohio legislature passed a law two years ago permitting the use of marijuana for medical purposes under certain circumstances, but the regulations for the details of medical marijuana have not been finalized. Nevertheless, some Ohio doctors are already ‘prescribing’ marijuana to patients who are Ohio residents.

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Most police officers probably do not go to work hoping to witness a suspect provide a urine sample. It’s likely not one of those things they go home and share with their family and friends. But it’s one of those things Ohio law requires in OVI cases. If a suspect is arrested and asked to provide a urine sample, an Ohio Department of Health regulation states, “The collection of the urine specimen must be witnessed”. The precise meaning of “witnessed” was the subject of a recent case in an Ohio court of appeals.

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The case is State v. Woltz. The defendant, Woltz, was arrested for OVI and taken to a police station. At the station, Woltz was asked to submit to a urine test, and she consented. The defendant was a female, and the arresting officer was a male. Accordingly, the officer asked a female dispatcher to witness the collection of the urine specimen. The urine specimen was given to the officer and sent to a crime lab. The crime lab analyzed the urine specimen and determined it contained marijuana, cocaine, and MDMA. Woltz was charged with OVI.

The defendant filed a motion to suppress the urine test. At the motion hearing, the female dispatcher did not testify. The officer testified that Woltz and the female dispatcher went into the women’s restroom with an empty vial and came out with a vial containing what appeared to be urine. The judge granted the motion to suppress because, without the testimony of the female dispatcher, the prosecution did not prove the urine sample was witnessed and authenticated. The prosecution appealed the judge’s ruling to the court of appeals.

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After years of working as a first officer for a commercial airline, Andrea is finally about to become a captain. To celebrate, she goes to dinner with friends and has a couple drinks. On the way home, she forgets to signal a right turn, and an officer stops her. The officer smells alcohol and has Andrea perform field sobriety tests. The officer says he notices ‘clues’ on the tests and arrests Andrea for DUI (called OVI in Ohio). As the cuffs go on, all she can think about is what will happen to her pilot’s license and her career.

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Legal Turbulence For The Pilot And Her Attorney
It seems logical that a pilot’s license would only be jeopardized if the pilot is convicted of OVI. What makes sense logically is not always what occurs with the federal government. And it is the federal government, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has responsibility for pilot (“airman”) licenses. The FAA will, in fact, impose sanctions for an OVI conviction. But there are other infractions, not obvious to attorneys, for which pilots could crash and burn.

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I have been attending this DUI / OVI seminar since its modern inception in 2002. For five years before that, I practiced all varieties of criminal defense, with a focus on serious felonies. I didn’t think OVI defense was as complex as cases like murder, robbery and burglary. The seminar in 2002 showed me I was wrong. Shortly after that seminar, I decided to make OVI the focus of my practice. Fast forward 16 years, and I co-chaired this year’s two-day seminar presented by the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (OACDL). I was primarily responsible for the first day, which means my job was to introduce the speakers without drooling or stuttering.

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The seminar got off to a great start with a presentation by Mimi Coffey from Texas. Mimi is board certified in DUI Defense, has twice completed the Borkenstein course at Indiana University, and is a regent with the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD). She discussed how to win an OVI case involving a breath test. Her discussion included favorable case law, important scientific principles and helpful litigation strategies.

The next speaker was Lauren Stuckert from Wisconsin. Lauren is the nation’s youngest lawyer to become board certified in DUI Defense. She discussed the analysis of blood and urine. The first part of her lecture focused on the analysis of alcohol, and the second part focused on the analysis of other drugs. Lauren included a spotlight on marijuana, as there is a growing number of Ohio OVI cases involving marijuana which will only increase with the legalization of medical marijuana.

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I recently went on a whale-watching trip in Mexico. Wherever I went, there was no shortage of tequila and cervezas. There was also no shortage of people driving cars. That prompted me to wonder how the drunk driving laws in Mexico compare to those in Ohio. It appears there are some similarities and some differences.

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‘Legal Limit’ For Blood Alcohol Concentration
One similarity between the laws in Mexico and Ohio is the ‘legal limit’: the blood alcohol concentration at which driving is ‘per se’ illegal. The national limit in Mexico is .08:  the same as Ohio.

Many states in Mexico have created their own limits, and most of them are lower than .08. For example, the states of Chiapas, Hidalgo and Veracruz all have limits of .04. We stayed in the state of Baja California Sur, which has a ‘per se’ limit of .08. Interestingly, I asked a few different locals about drunk driving, and none of them knew the ‘limite legal’.

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Jamie was driving down the highway with her boyfriend when a police officer stopped Jamie for speeding. It turned out Jamie did not have a driver license, and there was an active warrant for her arrest. The officer put Jamie in the back of his cruiser and placed her under arrest.

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Jamie’s purse was still in the car with her boyfriend, and her boyfriend owned the car. The officer decided to retrieve Jamie’s purse from the car and search it. The officer found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the purse, and Jamie was charged with crimes for possessing those items. In this case, State v. Banks-Harvey, the Ohio Supreme Court had to decide whether the officer’s search of Jamie’s purse violated Jamie’s right against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Both the federal Constitution and the Ohio Constitution protect us from unreasonable searches and seizures. A search conducted without a search warrant, like this one, is presumed to be unreasonable, unless it fits within a recognized exception to the search warrant requirement. In this case, the prosecution argued the search was justified as an inventory search.

 

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Clean hands is an obsession for some people.  In addition to frequent hand-washing, many people also use alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Aside from the potential issues with dry skin and weakened immune system (not to mention OCD!), use of hand sanitizers can also affect the results of a breath alcohol test.

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The impact of hand sanitizers on breath testing was the subject of a recent article in the Journal Of Forensic Sciences. A previous study concluded the absorption of alcohol from hand sanitizers has virtually no effect on blood alcohol concentration. The current study answered a different question: what if the hand sanitizer is on the hands of the breath test operator?

To answer the question, the researchers had breath test operators apply hand sanitizer, rub their hands until dry, and then administer breath tests to subjects who had consumed no alcohol. Part of administering the breath test is removing the disposable mouthpiece from its package and inserting it in the breath tube for the test.

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The abominable snowman was arrested for drunk driving. The ‘arrest’ of the snowman was part of a campaign by the St. Helens Police Department to crackdown on drunk driving during the holidays. Although the arrest was fake, the message was real: DUI/OVI enforcement is increased during the holiday season.

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The holidays bring an increased volume of driving. According to AAA, holiday travel has increased consistently over the last nine years, and this year looks to be record-setting. In Ohio, nearly 4.5 million people are traveling for the holidays, and 90% of those are driving.

The holidays also bring an increase in accidents related to operating under the influence. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that, over the last five years, an average of 300 people died in drunk driving crashes during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. In Ohio last year, ten OVI-related crashes resulted in 13 deaths during the Christmas holiday, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

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During a recent OVI jury trial, the judge and I disagreed about the function of standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs). During a sidebar, I argued the tests do not measure driving impairment; they predict blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The judge’s opinion was SFSTs measure impairment of driving ability. The judge’s opinion prevailed, despite being wrong, because the judge’s opinion always prevails in the judge’s courtroom (unless and until an appellate court says otherwise). This particular judge is intelligent, well-intentioned, and better educated on DUI/OVI issues than most judges and lawyers. If this judge misunderstands the purpose of SFSTs, it’s a topic worth addressing.

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A Very Brief History Of Standardized Field Sobriety Testing
Before the introduction of SFSTs, law enforcement officers used a variety of non-standardized tests to help them decide whether to arrest a person for drunk driving. Beginning in 1975, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sponsored research which resulted in the development of standardized field sobriety tests. That research also led to the NHTSA manual: “DWI Detection And Standardized Field Sobriety Testing”.

Subsequent to the original publication of the manual, NHTSA conducted multiple validation studies. Those studies have evaluated the SFSTs in various environments and have examined multiple factors affecting the tests. The reports from the studies are clear: what’s being evaluated is the effectiveness of the SFSTs to predict BAC, not driving impairment.

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