State v. Pope

2023 Ohio 865
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 17, 2023
DocketE-22-016
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2023 Ohio 865 (State v. Pope) 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. Pope, 2023 Ohio 865 (Ohio Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Pope, 2023-Ohio-865.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT ERIE COUNTY

State of Ohio/City of Milan Court of Appeals No. E-22-016

Appellee Trial Court No. TRC-21-04438

v.

Jacob Pope DECISION AND JUDGMENT

Appellant Decided: March 17, 2023

*****

Kevin J. Baxter, Erie County Prosecuting Attorney, and Kristin R. Palmer, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Timothy Young, Ohio State Public Defender, and R. Jessica Manungo, Assistant State Public Defender, for appellant.

MAYLE, J.

{¶ 1} Following a jury trial, defendant-appellant, Jacob Pope, appeals the

December 21, 2022 judgment of the Erie County Municipal Court for Milan, Ohio,

convicting him of operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and having physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A

motion for a stay pending appeal was filed in the trial court and was granted on April 25,

2022. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court judgment and terminate the

stay.

I. Background

{¶ 2} On July 15, 2021, two motorists called 9-1-1 to report that they had observed

a driver—later identified as Jacob Pope—operating his vehicle erratically. The first

caller stated that she was driving behind Pope on northbound State Route 4 outside

Bellevue and witnessed his vehicle swerve from side-to-side across the lane dividers,

almost drive off the road, and nearly veer into a ditch. Pope was taking his hands off the

wheel, throwing his hands around, and clapping. The caller stopped following him when

he turned into the Strawberry Hill gas station.

{¶ 3} The second caller reported that she had been following Pope on State Route

4 beginning at the Bellevue McDonald’s. She saw Pope and another person doing drugs

in the McDonald’s parking lot; the other person left, and Pope got into the vehicle. He

began driving, but before pulling out of the lot onto Route 20, he dozed off for a moment

at the stop sign. He drove to the Strawberry Hill gas station, and the caller followed. She

observed Pope take more drugs. He was walking around his car, jumping up and down,

and clapping. He then got in his vehicle and alternated between nodding off and

“freaking out,” smacking his head against the steering wheel.

2. {¶ 4} Erie County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at Strawberry Hill and approached

Pope. Pope was talking a lot, his words were running together, he was unable to stand

still, and his pupils were constricted—characteristics that can be clues of impairment.

Pope denied any drug or alcohol use, but based on their observations and the observations

of motorists who reported Pope’s erratic driving and behavior, deputies decided to

administer field sobriety tests. The deputies specifically suspected that Pope was

impaired by drugs—not alcohol—so they also performed ARIDE (Advanced Roadside

Impaired Driving Enforcement) testing, designed to identify drug impairment.

{¶ 5} Deputies administered the horizontal and vertical gaze nystagmus tests and

did not observe clues of impairment, however Pope’s left eyelid was tremoring. They

administered the walk-and-turn test; Pope stepped off the line several times, raised his

arms for balance, and performed an improper turn. They administered the one-leg stand

test; Pope showed every possible clue of impairment—he hopped, placed a foot down to

regain his balance, and raised his arms for balance. Pope was asked to put his head back

and estimate the passage of 30 seconds (the modified Romberg test). After 65 seconds,

Pope had still not gaged that 30 seconds had passed, his eyelids tremored, and he swayed

back-and-forth—all clues of impairment. Deputies administered the lack of convergence

test; Pope’s eyes were not able to converge, another clue of impairment. Finally,

deputies administered the finger-to-nose test; no clues of impairment were observed from

3. that test. The deputies saw that Pope’s keys were in the ignition of the vehicle, which

was parked at an angle at the gas pump.

{¶ 6} Based on the citizen reports of Pope’s erratic driving and behavior, the

deputies’ observations of Pope’s slurred speech, his inability to stand still, his constricted

pupils, and his poor performance on the walk-and-turn, one-leg stand, modified

Romberg, and lack of convergence tests, deputies determined they had probable cause to

arrest Pope. He was charged in two separate cases with being in physical control of a

vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a violation of R.C. 4511.194(B)(1),

a first-degree misdemeanor, and operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or

alcohol (“OVI”), a violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1)(a), also a first-degree misdemeanor.

Urine tests analyzed after his arrest showed the presence in his system of cocaine,

methamphetamines, and amphetamines.

{¶ 7} The charges were tried together to a jury on February 15, 2022. Two 9-1-1

calls were played for the jury and admitted into evidence, and one of the 9-1-1 callers

testified at trial. Two of the three responding deputies testified at trial, and recordings

from their body cameras were played for the jury and admitted into evidence. Pope

testified in his own defense.

{¶ 8} Pope testified that he was under a lot of financial and emotional stress

around the time of the incident. He claimed that while driving on State Route 4, he was

on the phone arguing with his children’s mother. He explained that he paused at the stop

4. sign at McDonald’s because he was arguing with her and waiting for traffic to pass. Pope

admitted being distracted and not driving as well as he should have, but he denied that he

had done drugs that day. He blamed his poor performance on the balance tests on the fact

that he has a bad knee, it was wet, and he was wearing flip-flops. Pope acknowledged

that urine tests showed that he had controlled substances in his system, but he claimed

that he had taken only Percocets, which a friend gave him for his knee pain. He insisted

that he took the medication three days before the incident and believed it was pain

medication. Pope maintained that he was driving “distracted and frustrated”—not

impaired.

{¶ 9} The jury found Pope guilty of both charges. The trial court found that they

were allied offenses that must merge for purposes of sentencing, and it sentenced Pope on

the OVI. It imposed a jail sentence of 90 days, 80 of which it suspended, three of which

could be served in a driver’s intervention program, and four of which would be credited

for time already served. Pope’s license was suspended for 18 months. Pope’s conviction

and sentence were memorialized in a nunc pro tunc judgment entered on December 21,

2022.

{¶ 10} Pope appealed. He assigns the following errors for our review:

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I:

The trial court abused its discretion by denying Jacob Pope’s

untimely motion for leave to file a motion to suppress instanter, even

5. though Mr. Pope demonstrated good cause for the untimely filing and

granting the motion was in the interest of justice.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR II:

Jacob Pope was denied effective assistance of counsel when his

attorney failed to seek a continuance after being retained just a few days

before the scheduled jury trial.

II. Law and Analysis

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Medley
2025 Ohio 1754 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2025)
State v. Sokevitz
2024 Ohio 4727 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2024)
State v. Rawlins
2024 Ohio 1733 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2023 Ohio 865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pope-ohioctapp-2023.