In re Z.E.N.

114 N.E.3d 594, 2018 Ohio 2208
CourtCourt of Appeals of Ohio, Fourth District, Scioto County
DecidedMay 16, 2018
DocketNo. 18CA3826
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 114 N.E.3d 594 (In re Z.E.N.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Ohio, Fourth District, Scioto County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Z.E.N., 114 N.E.3d 594, 2018 Ohio 2208 (Ohio Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

Harsha, J.

{¶ 1} Z.E.N. appeals from a juvenile court finding that she is a juvenile traffic offender for operating a motor vehicle above the posted speed limit, going 70 mph in a 50 mph zone. She asserts the trial court's finding was not supported by sufficient evidence.

{¶ 2} The state based the underlying speeding offense on a state trooper's testimony that he visually observed Z.E.N. operating a motor vehicle well over the posted speed limit, which he then confirmed by using an LTI 20-20 laser device. However, the trial court committed plain error by relying on the trooper's testimony about the laser device readout. The state failed to introduce evidence to demonstrate the device's scientific reliability, and the trial *596court failed to take judicial notice of this fact. Moreover, R.C. 4511.091(C)(1) precluded the trial court from relying on the trooper's unaided visual estimation of Z.E.N.'s vehicle's speed to convict her of speeding.

{¶ 3} Because the trial court's finding that Z.E.N. is a juvenile traffic offender based on her speeding was not supported by sufficient evidence, we sustain her assignment of error.

I. FACTS

{¶ 4} The state filed a traffic ticket in the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, charging Z.E.N. with speeding by traveling 70 mph in a 50 mph zone, in violation of R.C. 4511.21, and alleging that she is a juvenile traffic offender, as defined in R.C. 2151.02(N). Although the ticket did not state which subsection of R.C. 4511.21 she allegedly violated, by stating she operated a motor vehicle by traveling 70 mph in a 50 mph zone, it alleged a violation of R.C. 4511.21(D)(5), which provides that "[n]o person shall operate a motor vehicle * * * upon a street or highway * * * [a]t a speed exceeding the posted speed limit upon a highway, expressway, or freeway * * *."

{¶ 5} At the adjudicatory hearing Ohio Highway Patrol Trooper Bradley A. Johnson testified he was outside his patrol car and using an LTI 20-20 laser unit on U.S. 52 in Scioto County where the posted speed limit was 50 mph.

{¶ 6} According to Trooper Johnson the LTI 20-20 laser unit was properly calibrated and he was trained and qualified in its use. He observed Z.E.N., who he later learned was 16 years old, driving around a curve on U.S. 52 and who "appeared to be well over the posted speed limit of fifty miles an hour down through there." He then "checked the speed with the laser and checked it at seventy miles an hour in a fifty zone." Trooper Johnson testified that he couldn't have aimed the laser device at the wrong car even though Z.E.N.'s car was next to another vehicle. That was because he aimed the laser at Z.E.N.'s car by using the scope and placing the red dot on that. Z.E.N. did not object to the trooper's testimony, despite the fact the state did not offer any testimony establishing concerning the scientific reliability of the LTI 20-20 laser device. Nor did the trial court take judicial notice of it.

{¶ 7} Z.E.N. testified that she was not going 70 mph on the date in question.

{¶ 8} In closing argument, Z.E.N.'s attorney stated that because the state failed to produce evidence of the scientific reliability of the laser device, there was insufficient evidence to prove that she had been speeding in violation of R.C. 4511.21(D) :

Additionally, no testimony was provided as to the scientific reliability of the laser and no judicial notice was asked for with regard to it. And so, therefore, because it's a laser reading, insufficient evidence was provided * * *. Insufficient evidence with regard to the laser and the mechanics of the particular machine was provided to the Court.

{¶ 9} The trial court found that the state had proved Z.E.N. to be a juvenile traffic offender by speeding, without commenting on the scientific reliability of the laser device:

* * * I do believe, after sitting in here, that the prosecutor has carried his burden of proving that she was doing that, that speed, that rate of speed. Calibration was talked about. The line of sight with the scope, that it's a red dot scope. I believe that he said that it was, they can check the alignment and it was checked. Talked about that there were two vehicles. So, I believe, that the burden has been carried and that she has *597been proven to be a juvenile traffic offender. So, I will so find, young lady, that you are a juvenile traffic offender.

{¶ 10} The trial court entered a judgment adjudicating Z.E.N. to be a juvenile traffic offender and ordering her to pay costs.

II. ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

{¶ 11} Z.E.N. assigns the following error for our review:

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY FINDING BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT THAT APPELLANT WAS A JUVENILE TRAFFIC OFFENDER BECAUSE THE TRIAL COURT'S FINDING WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

{¶ 12} "When a court reviews the record for sufficiency, '[t]he relevant inquiry is whether, after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.' " State v. Maxwell , 139 Ohio St.3d 12, 2014-Ohio-1019, 9 N.E.3d 930, ¶ 146, quoting State v. Jenks , 61 Ohio St.3d 259, 574 N.E.2d 492 (1991), paragraph two of the syllabus; Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ; see also State v. Adams , 9th Dist. Medina No. 03CA0098-M, 2004-Ohio-3253, 2004 WL 1397943, ¶ 7 (applying same standard of review to review sufficiency of evidence claim in juvenile traffic offender case).

{¶ 13} A sufficiency assignment of error challenges the legal adequacy of the state's prima facie case, not its rational persuasiveness. State v. Koon , 4th Dist. Hocking No. 15CA17, 2016-Ohio-416, 2016 WL 527289, ¶ 17.

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Bluebook (online)
114 N.E.3d 594, 2018 Ohio 2208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-zen-ohctapp4scioto-2018.