State v. Young

624 N.E.2d 314, 88 Ohio App. 3d 486, 1993 Ohio App. LEXIS 3357
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 1, 1993
DocketNo. 92-P-0001.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 624 N.E.2d 314 (State v. Young) 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. Young, 624 N.E.2d 314, 88 Ohio App. 3d 486, 1993 Ohio App. LEXIS 3357 (Ohio Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

Christley, Judge.

This is an accelerated calendar case. Appellant, Arnold Young, appeals his December 12, 1991 conviction under R.C. 4511.19(A)(3), driving under the influence of alcohol. Initially, appellant was also charged under R.C. 4511.202 for failure to control his vehicle, R.C. 4511.19(A)(1) for driving under the influence, and R.C. 4511.19(A)(3) for driving under the influence. Prior to trial, all but the R.C. 4511.19(A)(3) charge were dropped.

A bench trial was held on December 12, 1991, and the following evidence was presented.

On September 2, 1991, Officer Guilitto of the city of Ravenna Police Department stopped and arrested appellant. Appellant was arrested and agreed to take a breathalyzer test, which showed over the legal limit.

Officer Guilitto testified at trial that the test was administered in accordance with the Department of Health’s rules and regulations, although no other specific information was presented. The state introduced into evidence the BAC verifier test report form prepared by Officer Guilitto. Appellant made a general objection when the prosecution asked the officer if the test had been administered in *488 accordance with the Department of Health’s rules and regulations. His objection was overruled.

After the prosecutor rested, appellant moved pursuant to Crim.R. 29 that he be acquitted, as appellant did not believe that the state had proven its case, since there was no proper foundation for the admission of the test results.

The trial court stated:

“The court, specifically, rules because there was no motion to suppress filed so defense has waived that right to object to any foundational matters. * * * ”

Appellant was found guilty of driving under the influence under R.C. 4511.-19(A)(3), and was subsequently sentenced.

Appellant timely appealed and his sentence was stayed. Appellant raises one assignment of error:

“The trial court erred to the prejudice of appellant in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal made ‘at the conclusion of appellee’s case in chief.”

It is appellant’s premise that the state did not sustain its burden of proof at trial. In other words, appellant contends that the state did not lay a proper foundation for the admission , of the breathalyzer results; and, as such, the state did not prove an essential element of its case.

R.C. 4511.19(A)(3) states:

“No person shall operate any vehicle * * * within this state, if any of the following apply:
a * * *
“(3) The person has a concentration of ten-hundredths of one per cent or more by weight of alcohol in his blood[.]”

The statute further requires that such testing shall be analyzed in accordance with methods approved by the Director of Health. Newark v. Lucas (1988), 40 Ohio St.3d 100, 102, 532 N.E.2d 130, 132, citing Cincinnati v. Sand (1975), 43 Ohio St.2d 79, 72 O.O.2d 44, 330 N.E.2d 908.

In such a suppression hearing, “the court hears all relevant evidence on the issue of admissibility.” (Emphasis added.) Defiance v. Kretz (1991), 60 Ohio St.3d 1, 4, 573 N.E.2d 32, 35.

There the Ohio Supreme Court held that a motion to suppress is the proper procedure for challenging breathalyzer test results in R.C. 4911.19(A)(3) prosecutions. Accord State v. Grodecki (Mar. 31, 1992), Portage App. No. 91-P-2368, unreported, 1992 WL 79605. We note that both of these cases dealt with pleas following unsuccessful suppression exercises.

*489 In fact, the Van Wert Court of Appeals has gone as far as to' say that “ * * * the sole and proper mode of raising an objection to the admissibility * * * of an intoxilyzer test is by motion to suppress prior to trial and that in the absence of such a motion any objection to admissibility is waived.” (Emphasis added.) State v. Collins (1985), 26 Ohio App.3d 204, 205, 26 OBR 426, 426, 498 N.E.2d 1379, 1379.

Research has found that neither the Ohio Supreme Court nor this court has ruled upon the precise issue raised by appellant. However, at least three other districts have: the Third, the Fourth and the Ninth Districts: State v. Vermillion (May 8, 1985), Union App. No. 14-83-9, unreported, 1985 WL 9130; State v. Anderson (Dec. 31,1987), Hancock App. No. 5-87-1, unreported, 1987 WL 32136; State v. Kempton (May 1, 1985), Ross App. No. 1099, unreported, 1985 WL 9455; State v. Dvorak (1989), 65 Ohio App.3d 44, 582 N.E.2d 1027.

In Vermillion, following an unsuccessful motion to suppress, appellant challenged a trial court’s policy that the state need only ask two questions to get breath test results admitted: “(1) Was there a test given; and (2) What was the result.” Id. at 9. There, the appellant argued that the state had not established the proper foundation at trial to admit the results of a blood-alcohol test. Specifically, appellant contended that the admissibility of the results of the test was contingent upon the establishment at trial that the results were legally obtained and were obtained in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department of Health.

The Third Appellate District concluded that the state had the ultimate burden of proving only the fulfillment of the prerequisites or foundation conditions to the extent that the accused took .issue with the legality of the test. Vermillion at 9, citing State v. Gasser (1980), 5 Ohio App.3d 217, 5 OBR 501, 451 N.E.2d 249. The court went on to say that where an accused fails to raise specific grounds by a pretrial motion to suppress the intoxilyzer test results, it constitutes waiver of the right to raise the same at trial. In such circumstances, the state need not “ ‘establish any foundation for the introduction of the test results.’” (Emphasis added.) Vermillion at 10, quoting State v. Schaffner (Aug. 24, 1983), Van Wert App. No. 15-82-8, unreported, 1983 WL 7326. Accord Kempton.

Although both Vermillion and Kempton considered the necessity of a foundation after the denial of a motion to suppress, the logic in those cases would apply as well to cases where a motion to suppress had not bee filed. In fact, that scenario was discussed in Vermillion at 10. The premise was that any objection to the admissibility of the test results needed to be made in a motion to suppress. Accord Defiance v. Kretz.

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Bluebook (online)
624 N.E.2d 314, 88 Ohio App. 3d 486, 1993 Ohio App. LEXIS 3357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-young-ohioctapp-1993.