State v. Benefield

2025 Ohio 1116
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 28, 2025
Docket2024CA00067
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 Ohio 1116 (State v. Benefield) 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. Benefield, 2025 Ohio 1116 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Benefield, 2025-Ohio-1116.]

COURT OF APPEALS STARK COUNTY, OHIO FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

STATE OF OHIO, : JUDGES: : Hon. Craig R. Baldwin, P.J. Plaintiff - Appellee : Hon. William B. Hoffman, J. : Hon. Andrew J. King, J. -vs- : : UNDRAY BENEFIELD, : Case No. 2024CA00067 : Defendant - Appellant : OPINION

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Stark County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2023 CR 1603

JUDGMENT: Affirmed

DATE OF JUDGMENT: March 28, 2025

APPEARANCES:

For Plaintiff-Appellee For Defendant-Appellant

KYLE L. STONE DONOVAN R. HILL Prosecuting Attorney 122 Market Ave. North Stark County, Ohio Dewalt Building, Ste. 101 Canton, Ohio 44702 By: CHRISTOPHER A. PIEKARSKI Assistant Prosecuting Attorney 110 Central Plaza South, Ste. 510 Canton, Ohio 44702-1413 Baldwin, P.J.

{¶1} The appellant, Undray Benefield, appeals from the trial court’s decision

denying his motion to suppress the results of a blood draw taken pursuant to a warrant

following his involvement in a fatal automobile accident. Appellee is the State of Ohio.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND THE CASE

{¶2} On June 20, 2023, at approximately 9:20 p.m., the appellant ran a red light

at the intersection of East State Street and South Seneca Avenue, in Alliance, Ohio,

causing a fatal, two-vehicle accident. When law enforcement officers arrived at the scene

the appellant was attempting to leave on foot. The appellant was initially transported to

Aultman Hospital in Alliance, where Sergeant Christopher McCord made contact with him

shortly after the accident in order to conduct a follow-up interview for the crash

investigation. The appellant refused to cooperate with hospital staff, and they had to

physically restrain him and force medication into his IV in order for him to be docile enough

to be intubated so he could be treated for his injuries. Sergeant McCord smelled the odor

of alcohol emitting from the appellant’s person.

{¶3} Based upon the appellant’s odor of alcohol, Sergeant McCord sought and

obtained a search warrant to draw a sample of the appellant’s blood. He thereafter

proceeded to Aultman Hospital in Canton, where the appellant had been transferred for

further treatment, with “collection kits,” which included blood vials. Sergeant McCord

presented the warrant to hospital staff, who contacted their legal department, who then

approved the blood draw. Sergeant McCord signed paperwork for the blood draw at 12:17 a.m., less than three hours after the crash was reported and within the statutorily required

three-hour timeframe, and then personally witnessed the blood draw.

{¶4} The results of the appellant’s blood draw evidenced his level of intoxication

at the time of the collision, which was in excess of that allowable by law. The matter was

bound over from the Alliance Municipal Court, and on August 24, 2023, the Stark County

Grand Jury indicted the appellant on the following charges:

• Count 1: aggravated vehicular homicide, in violation of R.C.

2903.06(A)(1)(a)/(B)(2)(b)(i), a felony of the first degree;

• Count 2: aggravated vehicular homicide, in violation of R.C.

2903.06(A)(1)(a)/(B)(2)(a), a felony of the second degree;

• Count 3: aggravated vehicular homicide, in violation of R.C.

2903.06(A)(2)(a)/(B)(3), a felony of the third degree;

• Count 4: operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of

abuse or a combination of them (“OVI”), in violation of R.C.

4511.19(A)(1)(a)/(A)(1I)G)/(A)(1)()/(G)(1)(b), a misdemeanor of the

first degree; and,

• Count 5: driving under suspension or in violation of license

restriction, in violation of R.C. 4510.11(A)/(D)(1), a misdemeanor of

the first degree.

The appellant was arraigned on September 1, 2023, at which time he pleaded not guilty

to the charges set forth in the indictment.

{¶5} On September 14, 2023, the appellant filed a motion to suppress the results

of his blood test in which he set forth a general assertion that the appellee could not demonstrate the blood sample was collected, handled, transported, or analyzed in

compliance with R.C. 4511.19 and with the Ohio Department of Health rules regarding

chemical tests. He did not provide any specific allegations of purportedly non-compliant

handling of his blood samples in his motion. On October 2, 2023, he supplemented his

motion with a motion to suppress his urine test.

{¶6} The trial court conducted a suppression hearing on October 12, 2023, at

which the appellee presented the testimony of the following four witnesses: (1) Sergeant

McCord of the Alliance Police Department; (2) Nurse M.R. of Aultman Hospital in Canton;

(3) Criminalist L.P. of the Ohio State Highway Patrol (“OSHP”) Crime Lab; and, (4)

Criminalist L.M. of the OSHP Crime Lab.

{¶7} Nurse M.R. testified that she was working at Aultman Hospital in Canton

that night, and both treated the appellant and encountered Sergeant McCord. She

performed a blood draw on the appellant pursuant to the search warrant presented by

Sergeant McCord using an already-established IV site on the appellant to avoid causing

any additional, unnecessary trauma by poking him with another needle; drew a standard

“waste” of 10 mL of blood; attached a Vacutainer (and the tubes provided by Sergeant

McCord’s kit); and, drew the appellant’s blood. According to M.R., it was a standard blood

draw and nothing abnormal occurred. She could not say whether any antiseptic was

applied to the appellant’s skin prior to drawing his blood because the IV was already

placed prior to the appellant’s arrival at the Canton location of Aultman Hospital.

{¶8} Once the blood tubes were filled, M.R. labeled them and handed them back

to Sergeant McCord, who testified that he personally delivered the blood tubes to the secure property room at the Alliance Police Department, where they were held

temporarily in a secure refrigerator before being sent out for testing.

{¶9} Criminalist L.P. is an expert in the field of toxicology, and testified regarding

the OSHP crime lab’s procedures for the intake and management of blood samples.

When a sealed sample arrives at the lab, evidence intake technicians date and timestamp

when it is received, which starts the lab’s chain of custody. The sample is thereafter

logged into the Laboratory Information Management System (“LIMS”) and placed in the

evidence-receiving refrigerator. An analyst then retrieves the sample and performs testing

on it. Once finished, the analyst places the sample in a “badge access” walk-in freezer

for storage.

{¶10} The United States Postal Service (“USPS”) delivered the appellant’s blood

samples to the crime lab. L.P. identified the two tubes that contained the appellant’s blood,

and further identified all of the information on their respective labels which included: (1) a

unique identifier number (23-005351); (2) the subject’s name (the appellant); (3) the

collector’s name (M.R.); (4) the date and time the sample was collected (June 21, 2023,

at 12:17 a.m.); (5) L.P.’s initials; and, (6) the number 1 or 2, for each tube respectively.

There was no evidence that the labels had been tampered with in any way.

{¶11} L.P. testified that she performed analytical testing on Tube 1 of the

appellant’s blood between July 7, 2023, and July 11, 2023, then interpreted the data and

prepared a report. According to L.P., four days is a common and normal timeframe for

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2025 Ohio 1116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-benefield-ohioctapp-2025.