If you just received a DUI, you can't afford not to call:
216-857-3001
Ohio´s DUI Law
Driving While
Under the Influence of Alcohol and/or Drugs
R.C. §4511.19
A. No person shall operate any vehicle within this state, if any of the following apply:
1. The person is under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or alcohol and a drug of abuse;
2. The person has a concentration of ten-hundredths of one per cent or more by weight of alcohol in his blood;
3. The person has a concentration of ten-hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of his breath;
4. The person has a concentration of fourteen-hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of his urine.
B. No person under twenty-one years of age shall operate any vehicle within this state, if any of the following apply:
1. The person has a concentration of at least two-hundredths of one per cent but less than ten-hundredths of one per cent by weight of alcohol in his blood;
2. The person has a concentration of at least two-hundredths of one gram but less than ten-hundredths of one gram by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of his breath;
3. The person has a concentration of at least twenty-eight one-thousandths of one gram but less than fourteen-hundredths of one gram by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of his urine.
ELEMENTS OF THE DUI OFFENSE
1. Person
2. Operate
3. Vehicle
4. Within Ohio
5. While Under The Influence of Alcohol/Drugs of Abuse [(A)(1) above]
and/or
With a Prohibited Alcohol Content [(A)(2),(3),(4); (B)(1),(2)(3) above]
DEFINITIONS OF THE DUI ELEMENTS
1. "Person" means any living human being.
2. "Operate" is a broader term than driving. It includes not only a person being in control of a vehicle while it is in motion, but also a person, whether conscious or unconscious, in the driver's location in the front seat of a stationary vehicle so as to be capable of doing any act or series of acts which could or contribute to the vehicle being put into motion. It is not necessary to prove that the person in the driver's location of a stationary vehicle ever had the vehicle in motion or intended to put the vehicle in motion. "Operation" includes a person who is in the driver's seat with the ignition key in the ignition whether or not the engine of the vehicle is running. Ohio Jury Instruction 545.25, §2 & State v. Gill, 70 Ohio St.3d 150 (1994).
3. "Vehicle" means every device, including a motorized bicycle, in, upon, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except motorized wheelchairs, devices moved by power collected from overhead electric trolley wires, or used exclusively upon rails or tracks, and devices other than bicycles moved by human power. R.C. §4511.01(A). Ohio courts have ruled that a "vehicle" includes a mounted bicycle, snowmobile, golf cart, riding lawn mower, and farm tractor. Conversely, it does not include a mounted horse or dismounted bicyclist.
4. "Within Ohio" means specifically that; anywhere within this state whether on public or private property, whether on or off road.
5. "Under The Influence of Alcohol" means that the person consumed some alcohol, whether mild or potent, in such a quantity, whether small or great, that it adversely affected and appreciably impaired the person's actions, reactions, and mental processes under the circumstances then existing and deprived him of the clearness of intellect and control of himself which he would otherwise have possessed. The question is what effect did any alcohol consumed by the person have on him at the time and place involved. If the consumption so affected the nervous system, brain, or muscles of the person so as to impair to an appreciable degree his ability to operate the vehicle, then the person was under the influence. Ohio Jury Instruction 545.25, §6. "Appreciable" means noticeable or perceptible. Ohio Jury Instruction 545.25, §7.
6. "With a Prohibited Alcohol Content" means the person had within his body:
A. an alcohol concentration of ten-hundredths of one per cent or more by weight of alcohol in his blood [R.C. §4511.19(A)(2)]; or
B. an alcohol concentration of ten-hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of his breath [R.C. §4511.19(A)(3)]; or
C. an alcohol concentration of fourteen-hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of his urine [R.C. §4511.19(A)(4)]; or
For a vehicle operator under the age of twenty-one:
D. an alcohol concentration of at least two-hundredths of one per cent but less than ten-hundredths of one per cent by weight of alcohol in his blood [R.C. §4511.19(B)(1)]; or
E. an alcohol concentration of at least two-hundredths of one gram but less than ten-hundredths of one gram by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of his breath [R.C. §4511.19(B)(2)]; or
F. an alcohol concentration of at least twenty-eight one-thousandths of one gram but less than fourteen-hundredths of one gram by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of his urine [R.C. §4511.19(B)(3)].
DRUNK DRIVING PENALTIES R.C. §4511.19(A)
|
WITH BAC > .17
|
1 Six years is computed from the date of conviction(s) to the date of the present offense is charged. Convictions of R.C. §4511.19(A), (B), municipal DUIs, felony traffic alcohol related offenses, federal DUIs and out-of-state DUI convictions all count as priors.
2 If person obtains three DUI convictions within a two year period, he will be classified as an "alcoholic" and his drivers license will be suspended indefinitely. R.C. §4507.08(A) & O.A.C. §4501:1-1-17(B). Before any driving privileges may be granted, person must attend an extensive alcohol treatment program, be certified by a physician having completed six straight months of sobriety and be physician certified as being competent to drive.
3 Once a person obtains his first felony DUI conviction, all subsequent DUI arrests are elevated to a 3rd Degree Felony status regardless of any time period (e.g., an arrest for DUI, even 30 years after having been convicted of a felony DUI, is classified as a 3rd Degree Felony).
4 May substitute a 72 hour Driver Intervention Program (DIP) for mandatory three day jail sentence. DIP must be state certified.
5 At the court's discretion, may substitute a 72 hour DIP for half of the mandatory minimum 6 days jail sentence.
6 10 & 30 day minimum jail sentences are mandatory. However, the court may impose 5 days of jail followed by 18 days of Electronically Monitored House Arrest (EMHA) for second offense, and 15 days of jail followed by 55 days of EMHA for a third offense.
7 20 & 60 day minimum jail sentences are mandatory. However, the court may impose 10 days of jail followed by 36 days EMHA for second offense, and 30 days of jail followed by 110 days of EMHA for a third offense.
8 At court's discretion, sentence can be ordered served locally (county jail, community-based correction facility, half-way house, or an alternative residential facility) or in a prison run by the Department of Rehabilitations & Corrections (DRC).
9 Mandatory prison sentence in a facility run by the DRC. No local incarceration option.
10 The statute at issue, R.C. §4507.16(F), is conflicted as to whether driving privileges may be granted. As a result, a conflict of opinions exists in this matter.
11 The vehicle operated by the person arrested is immediately seized, but only if that vehicle is owned by the person arrested for the DUI offense. State v. Hochhausler, 76 Ohio St.3d 455 (1996). Otherwise, the vehicle must be turned over to the "innocent owner."
12 If the arrestee is subsequently convicted of the DUI offense, and the arrested vehicle belongs to the convicted person, the vehicle is forfeited to the arresting agency.
13 Seizure of the vehicle's license plates is not required, but R.C. §4507.164 appears to grant a court the right to impound/block the registration of all of the person's plates and vehicle whenever that person's driver's license is suspended.
14 A conviction for DUI can never be expunged. Additionally, a DUI conviction makes every other conviction for any offense non-expungeable. State v. Yackley, 43 Ohio St.3d 181 (1989) & R.C. §2953.31, §2953.32.
 |
Copyright © 2005 Timothy J. Kucharski
Web design and hosting by New World Media Corporation