State v. Acres

2025 Ohio 1592
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 5, 2025
Docket2024CA0072-M, 2024CA0073-M
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 Ohio 1592 (State v. Acres) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Acres, 2025 Ohio 1592 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Acres, 2025-Ohio-1592.]

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF MEDINA )

STATE OF OHIO C.A. Nos. 2024CA0072-M 2024CA0073-M Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT LOGAN ACRES ENTERED IN THE MEDINA MUNICIPAL COURT Appellant COUNTY OF MEDINA, OHIO CASE Nos. 23CRB00705 23TRC03481

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: May 5, 2025

STEVENSON, Presiding Judge.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant Logan Acres appeals an order of the Medina Municipal Court

that denied in part his motion to suppress and found that the sergeant was engaging in a community

caretaking function when she approached his truck; the sergeant had a reasonable and articulable

basis to extend the stop and investigate for operating a vehicle while intoxicated; the State had

shown by clear and convincing evidence that the sergeant conducted the walk and turn test in

substantial compliance with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”)

standards; and that the breath test was conducted in substantial compliance with the Ohio

Administrative Code. This Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} Hinkley Township Police Sergeant Jessica Parente was working patrol duty around

12:50 a.m. in June 2023 when she observed a truck parked on the side of the roadway with its 2

hazard lights activated. It was dark with little traffic on the roadway. Sergeant Parente decided to

check on the truck’s occupant “in the interest of community caretaking[.]”

{¶3} Sergeant Parente pulled behind the truck and activated the lights on her cruiser.

She activated the cruiser’s lights “because it was so dark out and late[]” and she didn’t want the

truck’s occupant “to think that some random person is pulling up behind him[.]”

{¶4} Sergeant Parente approached the driver’s side of the truck. Mr. Acres was in the

driver’s seat of the truck and the only occupant of the vehicle. Mr. Acres told Sergeant Parente

that he had pulled to the side of the road to talk to his dad and that he had just learned that his

grandfather had passed away. Sergeant Parente immediately smelled “the odor of alcohol” coming

from the truck and she observed that Mr. Acres’ “eyes were exceptionally glassy[.]” She also

observed “an open container of White Claw . . . on the back floorboard behind [the driver’s] seat”

and she noted that Mr. Acres’ “movements were a bit slow.”

{¶5} Mr. Acres initially told Sergeant Parente that he had not been drinking. He admitted

drinking only after Sergeant Parente told him she saw the open White Claw, an alcohol beverage,

and that she could smell alcohol. Mr. Acres acknowledged drinking at a graduation party earlier

in the evening. He also admitted drinking the White Claw that she saw in the back of the truck.

{¶6} Sergeant Parente asked Mr. Acres to exit his truck after Officer David Stepka

arrived. She directed Mr. Acres to the front of her cruiser where she administered three field

sobriety tests: the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (“HGN”); the walk and turn test; and the one leg

stand test. Following the tests, Sergeant Parente arrested Mr. Acres for operating a vehicle under

the influence of alcohol. She handcuffed Mr. Acres, reading him his Miranda rights, and

transported him in her cruiser to Ohio State Highway Patrol (“OHSP”) Post 52 to submit to a

breath test on an Intoxilyzer 8000 machine. 3

{¶7} Trooper Benjamin Miller administered the breath test on the Intoxilyzer 8000. The

result of the breath test indicated a blood alcohol content (“BAC”) of 0.138 grams per two hundred

ten liters.

{¶8} Mr. Acres was charged with one count of operating a vehicle under the influence

of alcohol in violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1)(a), a misdemeanor of the first degree; one count of

operating a vehicle with a prohibited concentration of alcohol in his breath in violation of R.C.

4511.19(A)(1)(d), a misdemeanor of the first degree; one count of underage possession of alcohol

in violation of R.C. 4301.69(E)(1), a misdemeanor of the third degree; and one count of open

container in violation of R.C. 4301.62(B)(4), a minor misdemeanor.

{¶9} Mr. Acres moved to suppress the evidence against him, arguing that (1) Sergeant

Parente lacked probable cause to stop and detain him; (2) Sergeant Parente lacked reasonable

suspicion to remove him from his truck and conduct field sobriety tests; (3) the field sobriety tests

were not conducted in substantial compliance with NHTSA standards; (4) Sergeant Parente lacked

probable cause to arrest him; (5) the chemical test on Intoxilyzer 8000 was not conducted in strict

compliance with the Ohio Administrative Code; and, (6) his statements were obtained in violation

of his constitutional rights under both the United States and Ohio Constitutions.

{¶10} Following a hearing, the municipal court granted in part and denied in part Mr.

Acres’ motion to suppress. The court granted the motion as it pertained to the HGN and OLS test

results and denied the motion on all other raised issues.

{¶11} Mr. Acres pleaded no contest to the charges. The municipal court found Mr. Acres

guilty and at sentencing it merged the prohibited breath concentration count into the general under

the influence count and only sentenced Mr. Acres on the under the influence count in violation of

R.C. 4511.19(A)(1)(a). The execution of Mr. Acres’ sentence was stayed pending appeal. 4

{¶12} Mr. Acres appeals the trial court’s ruling on the motion to suppress, raising four

assignments of error.

II.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING MR. ACRES’[] MOTION TO SUPPRESS BECAUSE THE STOP AND INITIAL ENCOUNTER OF MR. ACRES WAS IMPROPER.

{¶13} Mr. Acres argues in his first assignment of error that the trial court erred when it

denied his motion to suppress because the stop and initial encounter was improper. We disagree.

Motion to Suppress

{¶14} The Ohio Supreme Court has stated:

Appellate review of a motion to suppress presents a mixed question of law and fact. When considering a motion to suppress, the trial court assumes the role of trier of fact and is therefore in the best position to resolve factual questions and evaluate the credibility of witnesses. Consequently, an appellate court must accept the trial court’s findings of fact if they are supported by competent, credible evidence. Accepting these facts as true, the appellate court must then independently determine, without deference to the conclusion of the trial court, whether the facts satisfy the applicable legal standard.

(Citations omitted.) State v. Burnside, 2003-Ohio-5372, ¶ 8. Pursuant to Burnside, “[o]nce this

Court has determined that the trial court’s factual findings are supported by the evidence, we

consider the trial court’s legal conclusions de novo.” State v. Iloba, 2021-Ohio-3700, ¶ 7 (9th

Dist.), citing Burnside at ¶ 8.

{¶15} Mr. Acres argues that Sergeant Parente lacked probable cause to initiate the stop

and that she unlawfully expanded the purpose of the stop. He argues that the encounter was an

impermissible warrantless seizure under the Fourth Amendment and that Sergeant Parente

unlawfully expanded the encounter. The State argues that Sergeant Parente was engaging in the

duty of community caretaking when she stopped and checked on Mr. Acres. It further asserts that 5

Sergeant Parente was correct to detain Mr. Acres for possible impairment based on her

observations including the odor of alcohol coming from the truck, Mr.

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2025 Ohio 1592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-acres-ohioctapp-2025.