State v. Groszewski

918 N.E.2d 547, 183 Ohio App. 3d 718
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 14, 2009
DocketNo. L-08-1038
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 918 N.E.2d 547 (State v. Groszewski) 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. Groszewski, 918 N.E.2d 547, 183 Ohio App. 3d 718 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Osowik, Judge.

{¶ 1} This is an appeal from a judgment issued by the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, following appellant’s no-contest plea to operating a vehicle while intoxicated (“OVI”). Because we conclude that the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress, we reverse.

{¶ 2} Appellant, Gary Groszewski, was indicted on December 15, 2006, on a single count of driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated, in violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1)(a) and (G)(1)(d). Appellant filed a motion to suppress sobriety tests, lay-witness observations, the results of a blood alcohol test, and appellant’s statements made while being tested at a hospital. The following information was presented to the court during the suppression hearing through testimony of various witnesses.

{¶ 3} Appellant was employed by the city of Toledo, Ohio, as a utility worker in the Division of Transportation Department. Appellant would be assigned to complete various jobs around the city, using a city-owned vehicle. On December 7, 2006, appellant reported for work at 7:00 a.m., and his supervisor, Joe Whitten, handed him his work assignment for that day. Although Whitten testified that he thought he smelled the faint odor of alcoholic beverage when appellant came into his office, the supervisor was not certain and did not take any action at that time. Whitten saw appellant backing his city vehicle out of the shop around 7:35 to 7:40 a.m.

{¶ 4} Whitten stated that shortly after appellant left his office, a young woman employee approached him and accused him of running her off the road in a red Jeep vehicle. The supervisor said that although the city had utilized red Jeeps, they were no longer in service at the time of this incident. He stated that appellant also drove a red Jeep similar to those formerly used by the city.

{¶ 5} A short time later, another city employee came to Whitten’s office and said that he overheard several employees saying that appellant was “tore up.” After speaking with the superintendent, Dave Harris, Whitten called appellant back to the office shortly before 8:00 a.m. Appellant told Whitten that he was fueling his vehicle and then returned to the office at approximately 8:20 a.m. Appellant’s daily mileage log sheet confirmed that he initially left the shop at 7:48 a.m., arrived for fueling at 7:58 a.m., left there at 8:14 a.m., and then arrived back at 8:22 a.m.

{¶ 6} Whitten testified that he smelled the faint odor of alcohol when appellant returned, but could not identify whether it came from his breath or clothing. The two then went to Superintendent Harris’s office. Eventually, Whitten and the union representative, Don Czerniak, took appellant to a local hospital to submit to a breathalyzer test scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Appellant entered the testing area at [722]*722approximately 9:15 a.m., and Whitten stayed out in the hospital waiting room, outside the occupational-health area.

{¶ 7} Whitten did not see appellant again until approximately 10:30 a.m. The results of the breath test, which indicated a blood alcohol level of 0.093, were faxed to the city of Toledo, Department of Resources. Whitten confirmed several times that appellant was being tested pursuant to his signed employment contract. That contract stated that failure to submit to or testing positive on any drug or alcohol test would result in his dismissal from employment with the city. It also stated that appellant consented to submit to drug/alcohol testing and authorized the release of any test results to the city of Toledo.

{¶ 8} Meanwhile, a uniformed Toledo Police officer, Sergeant Richard Murphy, was also at the hospital, but on unrelated personal business. As Murphy was leaving the hospital at approximately 10:00 a.m., he saw Bill Franklin, the Toledo City Director of Public Service, who was speaking on his cell phone with a Toledo police captain. The captain told Murphy via Franklin’s cell phone that the Toledo Police Department had received information that a city employee may have driven a city vehicle while intoxicated. At the captain’s instruction, Murphy reentered the hospital to talk with Whitten and Czerniak.

{¶ 9} Whitten told Murphy that he had seen appellant drive a city vehicle and said a list of employees who saw him drive would be compiled. Czerniak also then divulged the test results to Murphy and showed him a copy of the report. At this point, Murphy interviewed appellant, who commented that he “screwed up,” stating that he had consumed two glasses of wine the previous evening. Murphy said that appellant’s eyes appeared to be “glossy” and then asked appellant to perform two field-sobriety tests, a touch-the-nose test and a one-legged-stand test. Murphy acknowledged that he had not administered such tests in a long time, had not been recently involved in many OVI investigations, and was not comfortable with the standards required for field sobriety testing. For that reason, Murphy did not perform a horizontal nystagmus test and did not know whether he had conducted the one-legged-stand test under the appropriate standards.

{¶ 10} Murphy then told appellant that he was going to be arrested for an OVI violation. Two more police officers then arrived at the hospital at 10:35 a.m. After consulting with the city law director, one of the officers read appellant the warnings on the back of the Ohio Administrative License Suspension (“ALS”) form. The officer than placed appellant under arrest. At the officer’s request, appellant consented to submit to a blood test. The first officer could not remember the exact time the blood test was administered. The second officer testified that the nurse gave him the completed blood kit at 11:00 a.m., which was also the time recorded on the “Property Control Form.”

[723]*723{¶ 11} The trial court granted appellant’s motion to suppress the field-sobriety tests because they were not performed according to appropriate standards. However, the court denied appellant’s motion to suppress Murphy’s lay witness observations of the field-sobriety tests. The court also denied the motion to suppress statements made to police officers as a result of the employment testing, pursuant to Garrity v. New Jersey (1967), 385 U.S. 493, 87 S.Ct. 616, 17 L.Ed.2d 562. The court stated that there was “no evidence that [appellant] made any incriminating statements to his supervisors and co-workers during the investigation.” The court further ruled that Garrity was inapplicable to the breath and blood tests, because they were nontestimonial in nature.

{¶ 12} Ultimately, appellant pleaded no contest and was found guilty of OVI. The court sentenced appellant to five years of community control, DNA testing, six months’ confinement in the Correctional Treatment Facility, a $1,000 fine, a four-year driver’s license suspension, and a suspended 30-month prison sentence. The court granted a stay of execution as to the Correctional Treatment Facility portion of the sentence, pending appeal.

{¶ 13} Appellant now appeals from that judgment, arguing three assignments of error:

{¶ 14} “I. First Assignment of Error: The trial court erred by admitting evidence obtained in violation of Garrity v. State of New Jersey.

{¶ 15} “II. Second Assignment of Error: The arresting officer lacked reasonable suspicion to question Mr. Groszewski, and lacked probable cause to arrest Mr. Groszewski.

{¶ 16} “III.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
918 N.E.2d 547, 183 Ohio App. 3d 718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-groszewski-ohioctapp-2009.