State v. Farris

574 N.E.2d 1168, 62 Ohio App. 3d 189, 1989 Ohio App. LEXIS 1536
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 28, 1989
DocketNo. OT-88-30.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 574 N.E.2d 1168 (State v. Farris) 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. Farris, 574 N.E.2d 1168, 62 Ohio App. 3d 189, 1989 Ohio App. LEXIS 1536 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

*191 Abood, Judge.

This cause is before the court on appeal from a judgment of the Port Clinton Municipal Court, in which defendant-appellant, Robert B. Farris, was found guilty of a violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(3), operating a motor vehicle while having a concentration of alcohol in excess of lawful limits.

Appellant sets forth the following assignments of error:

“1. The Trial Court erred to the prejudice of the Defendant in denying Defendant’s Motion to suppress the results of the intoxilyzer.
“2. „ The Trial Court erred to the prejudice of the Defendant in failing to grant Defendant’s Motion for Acquittal.
“3. The Trial Court erred to the prejudice of the Defendant in failing to allow admission of Defendant’s blood test results.
“4. The Trial Court erred to the prejudice of the Defendant in failing to allow Defendant’s expert to testify as to the effects of calibrations on the intoxilyzer, performed more than one week before and one week after Defendant’s intoxilyzer test, as it effects Defendant’s intoxilyzer test results.
“5. The Trial Court erred to the prejudice of the Defendant by instructing the Jury that the actual accuracy of the intoxilyzer is determined only by calibration tests.
“6. The verdict of the jury is against the manifest weight of the evidence.”

While the facts will be more specifically discussed as they apply to the individual assignments of error, they may be summarized as follows:

On November 6, 1987, at approximately 11:07 p.m., State Trooper, Jeff Chio, stopped appellant after observing him speeding and weaving while heading west on State Route 163, in Portage Township, Ottawa County, Ohio. Due to the speeding and weaving and a moderate odor of alcohol on appellant’s breath, Trooper Chio had appellant perform various field tests to check appellant’s physical coordination for impairment due to alcohol. The tests performed by appellant consisted of the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, the walk and turn test, the one leg stand balance test and the finger-to-nose test. The results of all these tests indicated the presence of alcohol in appellant’s system. Trooper Chio placed appellant under arrest for violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1) and 4511.19(A)(3), 1 advised him of his rights and transported him *192 to the Port Clinton Police Department for an intoxilyzer test. Appellant’s breath tested at .104 grams of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of breath. The intoxilyzer upon which appellant’s breath was tested had been calibrated on November 2, 1987, four days prior to appellant’s test, and again on November 9, 1987, three days after appellant’s test, and indicated that the intoxilyzer used on appellant was in proper working order. Sometime after taking the intoxilyzer test, appellant was released on his own recognizance. Appellant, following his release, took a taxi from the police department to Magruder Hospital where he had a blood sample taken for purposes of having a separate test to determine his blood-alcohol level.

On January 25, 1988, a pretrial was held in appellant’s case and on February 4, 1988, appellant filed a motion to suppress the results of the intoxilyzer. By judgment entry dated March 16, 1988, the trial court overruled appellant’s motion. The case proceeded to jury trial on May 17, 1988, wherein the jury found the appellant not guilty of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1), but guilty of R.C. 4511.19(A)(3).

In his first assignment of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress the results of the intoxilyzer. This claim is based on appellant’s assertion that the intoxilyzer used on appellant produced results that were not within the range of variance permissible by law. Appellant argues that since the certificate for approval of calibration solution batch or lot number 87-11 (the calibration solution used to test the intoxilyzer used on appellant) states that the solution “will produce a reading of 0.105 g/210L + .005” and not “+ or — .005” and the calibration test result of November 9, 1987 was .104, (which under appellant’s argument is outside the stated variance of + .005), appellant’s test result of November 6, 1987, should have been excluded. Additionally, appellant argues that on five separate occasions between the dates of August 10, 1987 and November 9,1987 the intoxilyzer used on appellant produced results that were not within the + .005 range of variance.

R.C. 3701.143 authorizes the Director of Health to determine suitable methods of alcohol testing. Ohio Adm.Code 3701-53-04(A)(l), which is included in paragraph No. 3 of Official Instruction No. 009 issued on March 16, 1983, by the Director of Health for Alcohol Testing, provides that:

* * *
*193 “(1) A calibration check of a breath testing instrument is valid when the result of the calibration check is at target value plus or minus five one-thousandths (0.005) grams per two hundred ten liters. * * *” (Emphasis added)

Clearly, the variance indicated on the certificate for the calibration solution of + .005, rather than + or — .005, was a printing error which cannot be used by appellant to change the requirements of the law. Since the calibration test results of November 2,1987 and November 9,1987, .105 and .104 respectively, were within the range of variance as provided for in Ohio Adm.Code 3701-53-04 and paragraph No. 3 of Official Instruction No. 009, the trial court did not err in denying appellant’s motion to suppress the results of the intoxilyzer. Accordingly, appellant’s first assignment of error is found not well-taken.

Appellant’s second assignment of error claims that the trial court erred to the prejudice of appellant by failing to grant appellant’s motion for acquittal. In his argument in support of this assignment of error, appellant argues that the state did not properly show that the intoxilyzer had been calibrated by a senior operator as required by Ohio Adm.Code 3701-53-04. Specifically, appellant contends that, first, the calibrating officer did not testify and the arresting officer did not see the intoxilyzer calibrated, and second, the intoxilyzer test report form dated November 2, 1987, was not properly certified, did not show the senior operator’s permit number and should not have been admitted into evidence. Therefore, appellant contends, the state failed to show that the intoxilyzer had been properly calibrated.

Ohio Adm.Code 3701-53-04 requires that breath-testing instruments be checked by calibration no less frequently than once every seven days by a senior operator qualified under the terms of Ohio Adm.Code 3701-53-07. In this case, although the calibrating officer, Chief Walter Bahnsen of the Port Clinton Police Department, did not testify, a senior operator’s permit issued to him by the Director of Health was admitted into evidence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
574 N.E.2d 1168, 62 Ohio App. 3d 189, 1989 Ohio App. LEXIS 1536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-farris-ohioctapp-1989.