State v. Acres

2025 Ohio 1592
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided May 5, 2025·No. 2024CA0072-M, 2024CA0073-M·Published

Opinion

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

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.

{¶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.

{¶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

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. Acres’ glassy eyes and slow movements, the open White Claw, and Mr. Acres initially denying alcohol consumption but then admitting that he had drank a White Claw or two at a graduation party that evening.

Community Caretaking Exception

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

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