State v. Wells

464 N.E.2d 596, 11 Ohio App. 3d 217, 11 Ohio B. 340, 1983 Ohio App. LEXIS 11282
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 5, 1983
DocketWD-82-69 and -70
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 464 N.E.2d 596 (State v. Wells) 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. Wells, 464 N.E.2d 596, 11 Ohio App. 3d 217, 11 Ohio B. 340, 1983 Ohio App. LEXIS 11282 (Ohio Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

Handwork, J.

These companion cases are before the court on appeal from an order of the Perrysburg Municipal Court granting defendants-appellees’ motions to suppress certain evidence with respect to vehicle overweight charges against them. Since these cases involve the same facts and raise identical legal issues, they will be treated together for the purposes of this appeal.

*218 I

The pertinent facts are not in dispute. Defendants-appellees, Clifford Wells and Randy Volschow, were issued citations in which they were charged with exceeding proper load-weight limitations for their tractor-trailer rigs in violation of R.C. 5577.04. Appellees thereafter filed motions to suppress on September 23, 1982. A consolidated hearing on said motions was held on October 5, 1982. Appellees sought to suppress all evidence of the weighing or weight of their trucks on the grounds that, first, the police officer who initially stopped them did so without having any “reason to believe” that the vehicles were overweight, and, second, that their detention for two hours and fourteen minutes prior to the weighing of their vehicles constituted an unreasonably long delay, all in contravention of R.C. 4513.33.

Nowhere in appellees’ written motions was there any allegation that the stopping or weighing of their vehicles violated any constitutional strictures, state or federal. At the suppression hearing, however, the trial court, over the prosecutor’s objection, permitted counsel for appellees to argue that constitutional violations had also occurred, though in their motions to suppress, appellees alleged only that police officers had violated certain provisions of state law, not their constitutional rights.

The trial court made findings of fact based upon certain stipulations of fact which were entered into at the hearing, and also based upon testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses. The stipulations are as follows:

“1. That on Friday, June 25, 1982, at 10:11 p.m. defendants’ trucks were stopped by Officers Cuthbertson and Williams of the Northwood Police Department.
“2. That the vehicles of defendants were stopped solely for the purpose of weighing said vehicles and the loads which they contained.
“3. That the loads which the defendants were carrying on their vehicles were completely covered with tarps and were not visible to the officers.
“4. That Trooper Click of the Ohio Highway Patrol arrived with the portable scales to accomplish the weighing of defendants’ vehicles no earlier than 12:24 a.m. on June 26, 1982.
“5. That the weighing of defendants’ vehicles was completed at 3:31 a.m. on June 26, 1982.”

The trial court, on the record, gave an oral statement of certain additional facts which may be summarized as follows. Officer Harold Cuthbertson observed two tractor-trailer rigs, known in trucker’s parlance as “Michigan mule trains,” proceeding toward the intersection of Wales and Oregon Roads in the city of North-wood. Each tractor-trailer rig was supported by eleven axles containing a total of forty-two wheels. The officer observed that the freight on each trailer appeared to consist of round, bulky objects covered entirely by tarps. Despite the tarps, he could discern that the covered materials were circular and were unequal in their diameters. 1 The officer testified that the trucks were “pulling hard,” which he explained was characteristic of vehicles that were straining or laboring under extreme weight. He also testified that he heard the tires making “roaring noises,” which he also explained was typically caused by pressure from a heavy load. Cuthbertson further testified that his suspicions were aroused by the vehicles’ speed of twenty-five miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour zone and by the fact that they were being driven at night. It was brought out in Cuthbertson’s testimony that he once worked as a truck driver for several years before becoming a police officer and that he had operated similar tractor-trailer units. He testified that “Michigan mule trains” are a much heavier vehicle than *219 normal trucks, which have only five axles and eighteen wheels. Having more “rig weight” than ordinary tractor-trailers, a “Michigan mule train” must consequently haul less load-weight in order to conform to legal gross-load limitations. Based upon what he observed, it was Officer Cuthbertson’s opinion that appellees’ vehicles were well in excess of those limits. Cuthbertson also testified that during his thirteen years as a law enforcement officer, it was his experience that overweight trucks were frequently driven at night in the Northwood area to evade detection by police and that the loads carried thereon were usually covered to hinder observation. Officer Cuthbertson radioed Officer Williams to assist him in stopping appellees’ vehicles. Eventually, five Northwood police officers detained the two vehicles until Trooper Click of the Ohio Highway Patrol arrived with the portable scales to weigh the trucks. The weighing of both vehicles was not completed until 3:31 a.m. on June 26, 1982, five hours and twenty minutes after they were initially stopped.

At the close of the hearing, the trial court granted appellees’ motions to suppress and entered an order with respect thereto. From the trial court’s suppression order, plaintiff-appellant, state of Ohio, has brought this appeal.

II

Appellant raises two assignments of error, which are as follows:

“The trial court committed prejudicial error in ruling the defendants could raise the constitutional issues at the hearing.
“The exclusionary rule does not lie for violations of state statutory law when there is no violation of constitutional rights.”

In support of its first assignment of error, appellant cites the fact that ap-pellees’ written motions, filed with the trial court, raised only the issue of whether state statutory law was violated when the officer stopped, detained and weighed their trucks. The arguments in the accompanying memoranda focused upon certain provisions of R.C. 4513.33. Therefore, appellant argues, the trial court should not have allowed appellees’ counsel to raise and argue constitutional issues that were not originally advanced in the written motion.

Crim. R. 12 states, in pertinent part:

“(B) Pretrial motions. Any defense, objection, or request which is capable of determination without the trial of the general issue may be raised before trial by motion. The following must be raised before trial:
<<* * *
“(3) Motions to suppress evidence, including but not limited to statements and identification testimony, on the ground that it was illegally obtained. Such motions shall be filed in the trial court only;
u* * *
“(G) Effect of failure to raise defenses or objections.

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

Related

State v. Bracey
2025 Ohio 2133 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2025)
State v. Gillen
2025 Ohio 1095 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2025)
State v. Kelley
2014 Ohio 3673 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Rife
2012 Ohio 3264 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2012)
Reid MacHinery, Inc. v. Lanzer
614 F. Supp. 2d 849 (N.D. Ohio, 2009)
State v. Starcovic, 2007-P-0081 (6-6-2008)
2008 Ohio 2758 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Swain, Unpublished Decision (5-30-2006)
2006 Ohio 2727 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2006)
City of Toledo v. Harris
651 N.E.2d 24 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1994)
Elyria v. Swagger
5 Ohio App. Unrep. 239 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Myers
580 N.E.2d 61 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Howe
584 N.E.2d 1239 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Elder
584 N.E.2d 779 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
464 N.E.2d 596, 11 Ohio App. 3d 217, 11 Ohio B. 340, 1983 Ohio App. LEXIS 11282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wells-ohioctapp-1983.