State v. Risner

379 N.E.2d 262, 55 Ohio App. 2d 77, 9 Ohio Op. 3d 230, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7055
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 15, 1977
Docket8-77-12
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 379 N.E.2d 262 (State v. Risner) 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. Risner, 379 N.E.2d 262, 55 Ohio App. 2d 77, 9 Ohio Op. 3d 230, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7055 (Ohio Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Guernsey, J.

Defendant was charged, tried and convicted in the Bellefontaine Municipal Court for the crime of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol proscribed by E. C. 4511.19.

Upon trial to the court without a jury it appeared from the testimony of the arresting officer that he first saw the defendant at the scene of a collision beside a car which he is alleged to have been driving; that the officer had not seen him driving the car; that defendant was being attended to by a rescue squad attendant; that the officer did not personally talk to him or any of the witnesses at the scene; that the car which defendant is alleged to have driven was not titled in defendant’s name and had been driven left of center and hit another car on its side of the road; that defendant had “blood on his forehéad and large knot where he apparently struck the windshield”; that he “was being treated, I came up and tried to see if I could assist and there was an odor of alcohol and the attendants were asking him if he was hurt,” which he denied; that the witnesses stated there was no one else in the car and that a few minutes earlier he had been involved in another accident with a person who followed him and stated “she only saw one person in the car”; that he was removed *78 to a hospital where he denied to the officer that he had been the driver of the car and also denied being in the car; and that he placed him under arrest at the hospital “as a result of my own investigation” though he had not talked to anyone at the scene; that he had talked to other officers involved in the investigation and received from them the statements taken at the scene of the collision. There was nó testimony by the arresting officer as to what the other officers told him and the statements taken by them from persons at the scene are not in evidence. After the arrest a sample of defendant’s blood was removed from him by a doctor at the hospital and thereafter analyzed for alcohol content by a chemist of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Defense counsel objected to the admission into evidence of the results of this analysis because there was no testimony that the blood sample had been withdrawn by a “qualified” physician. The trial was recessed for a period of time (till April 18, 1977) to obtain such testimony. By the time that the trial was reconvened defense counsel had either made or filed a motion on the basis of Oregon v. Szakovits (1972), 32 Ohio St. 2d 271, to suppress the results of the blood test because the officer making the arrest had not observed the defendant operating a motor vehicle.. At the close of the state’s evidence the court entertained argument on the motion and took the motion under advisement. On May 3, 1977, on the court being reconvened the court permitted additional argument on the motion, as well as argument as to the timeliness of same, defense counsel claiming that the defendant was unaware that the arresting officer had not witnessed his operation of a car until such fact came out on the first day of trial and the prosecution claiming that that fact could have been obtained by discovery procedures, defendant then claiming that the shortness of the time between the plea and 'trial did not permit the discovery process followed by a pre-trial motion to . suppress. The court thereupon overruled the motion “on the grounds of Bule 12,” and the' results of the blood test (.26) were admitted into evidence, the defense moved for a “directed verdict” which motion was overruled, the defense rested without intro *79 dueing any evidence, and the court found the defendant guilty of the offense of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol as well as guilty of the additional offense charged of driving while under license suspension.

So far as our record is concerned only the conviction of the offense of operating while under the influence of alcohol has been journalized and the appeal is solely from that conviction, the defendant assigning error of the municipal court (1) in denying his motion to suppress the results of the blood test, (2) in failing to hear his motion to suppress prior to the close of the state’s case, (3) in denying his motion for “involuntary dismissal” at the close of the state’s case, (4) in granting the state’s motion for continuance in order to obtain testimony of the physician, thereby resulting in hardship of defendant, and (5) in that the “finding” of the court was against the manifest weight of the evidence.

The defendant has not argued his second, fourth and fifth assignments of error and, invoking our prerogative under Appellate Rule 12, we will not further consider same. He has argued the other two assignments of error together, generally as to the illegality of the arrest and the inadmissibility of the results of the blood test as the fruit of a poisoned tree, as to the timeliness of his motion. to suppress, and as to the want of evidence of intoxication.

Under Criminal Rule 12 it is incumbent upon a defendant to file his motion to suppress illegally obtained evidence “within thirty-five days after arraignment or seven days before trial, whichever is earlier,” or within an extension of such time made by the court in the interest of justice. The failure to timely file such motion shall constitute a waiver of the objection unless the court for good cause grants relief from the waiver.

It must be emphasized, however, that this rule applies to illegally obtained evidence which would be otherwise competent and have probative value as to the commission of an offense. The same was true under the common law rule of law set forth in State v. Davis (1964), 1 Ohio St. 2d 28, and subsequent cases,

*80 Here the evidence sought to be suppressed was the result of a blood test which if properly taken as prescribed by the implied consent law, R. C. 4511.19 and 4511.191, raises, at the appropriate concentration of blood alcohol, a presumption that the defendant was under the influence of alcohol when operating a motor vehicle.

R. C. 4511.191 prescribes, among other things:

“(A) Any person who operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways in this state shall be deemed to have given consent to a chemical test or tests of his blood, breath, or urine for the purpose of determining the alcohol content of his blood if arrested for the offense of driving while under the influence of alcohol. The test or tests shall be administered at the direction of a police officer having reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways in this state while under the influence of alcohol. * * * ”

Thus under the provisions of this controlling statute, there can be no implied consent to withdraw blood and no presumption arising from the result of an analysis thereof unless the person from whom the blood is taken was arrested for the offense of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 N.E.2d 262, 55 Ohio App. 2d 77, 9 Ohio Op. 3d 230, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7055, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-risner-ohioctapp-1977.