State v. Vannata

456 N.E.2d 1358, 8 Ohio Misc. 2d 22, 8 Ohio B. 330, 1983 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 400
CourtHamilton County Municipal Court
DecidedJuly 19, 1983
DocketNo. C-83-TRC-12740
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 456 N.E.2d 1358 (State v. Vannata) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hamilton County Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Vannata, 456 N.E.2d 1358, 8 Ohio Misc. 2d 22, 8 Ohio B. 330, 1983 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 400 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1983).

Opinion

Albanese, J.

This case was submitted on a motion to dismiss that challenges the constitutionality of R.C. 4511.19(A)(3). The defendant, Timothy J. Vannata, was charged on March 19,1983, with violating R.C. 4511.19(A)(3) (effective March 16, 1983) to wit: driving under the influence of alcohol in Deer Park, Hamilton County, Ohio.

It is common knowledge throughout this community, and in Ohio, as well as the entire nation, that the startling number of drunken drivers on the highways is appalling. Statistics reported in newspapers, magazines and on television reveal the major problems created by drunk drivers in causing accidents, injuries and deaths.

For years the drinking driver has been tolerated, with the result that we have slaughtered more people on the road than have died in all our wars. South Dakota v. Neville (1983), 74 L.Ed. 2d 748, 755.

Therefore, it is of great concern and significance that Ohio’s new drunk driving law (R.C. 4511.19, effective March 16, 1983) be constitutionally examined and judicially interpreted at the first instance.

It is not necessary to detail the facts for purposes of this motion. However, the defendant, when arrested, recorded a concentration of more than .10 gram by weight of alcohol in his breath. The court has reviewed the testimony, exhibits, briefs and arguments of counsel.

I

The defendant’s initial argument is the constitutional challenge that R.C. 4511.19(A)(3) is vague and a denial of due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The defendant claims that the average citizen cannot understand the law and determine the standards of guilt “without consulting with an expert”; and that “a person of ordinary intelligence” cannot “ascertain for himself how much alcohol he can consume before he violates the law.”

The state argues that R.C. 4511.19 (A)(3) is not vague and does set forth the standards of conduct for persons to be aware of before driving on the roadways.

The law applicable as -to the issue of vagueness has been stated in State v. Young (1980), 62 Ohio St. 2d 370 [16 O.O.3d 416], at page 372 that:

“* * * ‘[T]he proper standard for determining if a statute is vague is found in Connolly v. General Construction Co. [23]*23(1926), 269 U.S. 385, and Grayned v. [City of] Rockford (1972), 408 U.S. 104.’ State v. Phipps (1979), 58 Ohio St. 2d 271, 273 [12 O.O.3d 273]. In Connally v. General Construction Co., supra, the United States Supreme Court, at page 391, stated:
“ ‘That the terms of a penal statute creating a new offense must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties, is a well-recognized requirement, consonant alike with ordinary notions of fair play and the settled rules of law. And a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application, violates the first essential of due process of law. * * *’ (Citations omitted.)”

Justice Marshall said in Grayned v. City of Rockford (1972), 408 U.S. 104, 108-109, that:

“It is a basic principle of due process that an enactment is void for vagueness if its prohibitions are not clearly defined. * * * A vague law impermissibly delegates basic policy matters to policemen, judges and juries for resolution on an ad hoc and subjective basis, with the attendant dangers of arbitrary and discriminatory application.”

Finally, in United States v. Harriss (1954), 347 U.S. 612, 618, the court said:

“On the other hand, if the general class of offenses to which the statute is directed is plainly within its terms, the statute will not be struck down as vague, even though marginal cases could be put where doubts might arise. * * * And if this general class of offenses can be made constitutionally definite by a reasonable construction of the statute, this Court is under a duty to give the statute that construction.”

So, then, we must look to the relevant sections of R.C. 4511.19(A)(3) and apply the foregoing constitutional principles.

The state has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that:

(1) The defendant operated a motor vehicle; and
(2) The defendant operated said motor vehicle and had a concentration of ten hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of his breath.

For persons who consume alcoholic beverages it must be assumed that they know that what they are drinking has an effect on the body’s chemistry.

This court can take judicial notice that many articles published and distributed in general circulation (insurance company pamphlets, driving safety handbooks, newpapers, etc.) contain charts, graphs and explanations of blood alcohol levels for body weights.

The statute sets forth a specific level of concentration of alcohol (.10 gram or more) that prohibits the driver from operating a motor vehicle on the highway.

Basically, the Ohio Legislature has determined that .10 percent quantity of alcohol has sufficient adverse effect upon any person to make his driving a definite hazard to himself and others. Delaware has a similar statute wherein the court concluded in Coxe v. State (Del. 1971), 281 A.2d 606, 607, that:

“We cannot say that this determination [forbidding any person from driving a motor vehicle if his blood concentration contains .10 percent or more of alcohol] is unfounded or contrary to the facts; a number of studies and many statistics have recently been published by experts in this field which support that conclusion.”

The defendant concedes that the state can prohibit drunken drivers from the roadways by exercising inherent police powers, but claims the power is misused.

This court concludes that the use of these powers is reasonable and in the best interests of safe driving. See, also, State v. Franco (1982), 96 Wash. 2d 816, 639 P. 2d 1320.

A recent case of Burg v. Municipal [24]*24Ct. (Cal. App. 1983), 192 Cal. Rptr. 531, states at page 534 that:

“It is true that a drinking driver may, even with use of an available chart, err in his or her estimation of BA [blood alcohol] and thereby ‘innocently’ commit a * * * violation [of the drunk driving statute]. * * * [B]ut ‘the law is full of instances where a [person’s] fate depends on his * * * estimating rightly * * * some matter of degree.’ * * * (County of Nevada v. MacMillen * * * [(1974), 11 Cal. 3d 662, 673, 114 Cal. Rptr. 345, 522 P. 2d 1345]; see also People v. Daniel (1959), 168 Cal. App. 2d Supp. 788, 799-800, 337 P. 2d 247). This fact does not render such laws unconstitutional. ’ ’

Further, the Burg

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Bluebook (online)
456 N.E.2d 1358, 8 Ohio Misc. 2d 22, 8 Ohio B. 330, 1983 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-vannata-ohmunicthamilto-1983.