State v. Chandler, Unpublished Decision (9-1-1999)
State v. Chandler, Unpublished Decision (9-1-1999)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
On January 30, 1998, the Guernsey County Grand Jury indicted appellant, Rodney D. Chandler, on one count of driving under the influence in violation of R.C.I THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED ERROR PREJUDICIAL TO THE APPELLANT WHEN IT SUMMARILY OVERRULED APPELLANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS THE INDICTMENT OR PRECLUDE INTRODUCTION INTO EVIDENCE OF A PRIOR UNCOUNSELED DUI CONVICTION CONTRARY TO THE RIGHTS GUARANTEED APPELLANT TO A FAIR TRIAL AS GUARANTEED BY THE
FIFTH ANDFOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND ARTICLE1 , SECTION16 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF OHIO, AND THE RIGHT TO THE EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL GUARANTEED BY THESIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND ARTICLEI , SECTION10 OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.II THE TRIAL COURT'S REFUSAL TO ACCEPT APPELLANT'S OFFER TO STIPULATE TO THE VALIDITY OF HIS THREE PRIOR DUI CONVICTIONS AND ITS DECISION TO OVERRULE APPELLANT'S MOTION IN LIMINE DENIED APPELLANT HIS RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL AS GUARANTEED BY THE
FIFTH ANDFOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE1 , SECTION16 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF OHIO, AND WAS CONTRARY TO EVID.R. 404(A), EVID. R. 609, AND EVID. 403(A).III THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION WHEN IT OVERRULED HIS MOTION TO SUPPRESS THE RESULTS OF THE BREATH TEST.
IV THE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH ABUSED HIS DISCRETION IN APPROVING CALIBRATION SOLUTION #97220.
V THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION WHEN IT OVERRULED APPELLANT'S DAUBERT MOTION CHALLENGING THE RELIABILITY OF THE PROCEDURES USED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE MANUFACTURER TO DETERMINE THE TARGET VALUE OF CALIBRATION SOLUTION #97220.
VI THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION WHEN IT CONSIDERED HEARSAY EVIDENCE IN DETERMINING WHETHER THE TESTING PROCEDURES USED TO CERTIFY CALIBRATION SOLUTION #97220 WERE RELIABLE.
We find Old Chief to be distinguishable from the facts in this case. In the case sub judice, the prosecution was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant had three or more prior DUI convictions within the past six years under R.C.
The judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Guernsey County, Ohio is hereby affirmed in part and remanded.
By Farmer, J. Gwin, P.J. and Edwards, J. concur.
Concurring Opinion
I agree with the majority as to its analysis and disposition of assignments of error I and II, and I agree with the majority as to its disposition of assignments of error III, IV and V. However, I disagree with the analysis of the majority as to assignments of error III, IV and V. I am writing separately so as to make it clear that I would not be concurring with the disposition of assignments of error III, IV, and V had it not been for the testing of the last ten bottles in Batch 97220 in December of 1997, subsequent to the solution certification by the Director of Health in September of 1997. Pursuant to Revised Code
This regulation does not specify the manner in which the instrument check solution is to be prepared or the manner in which the solution is to be certified by the Director of Health. However, based upon due process grounds, it is still necessary that sound scientific procedures be used to certify to law enforcement the amount of ethyl alcohol in each batch of solution. According to the testimony of Dr. Sutheimer (Transcript at page 82) sound scientific procedures require that at least six to eight bottles of this 1,800 bottle batch of solution be randomly selected and tested to determine the target value of the batch. In originally setting the target value of the batch, the manufacturer of the batch (Steifel) had only tested three bottles. The Department of Health had only tested four bottles after the batch was received from the manufacturer. Therefore, Dr. Sutheimer concluded that "[n]either the manufacturer nor the Department of Health had analyzed enough bottles to set a true target for batch number 97220" as of the September 30, 1997, date that the Director of the Department of Health certified the solution. Transcript at Page 55. The fact that the Department of Health did not find out until November 21, 1997, that Steifel had tested only three bottles in the batch when setting the target value makes the certification of the batch on September 30, 1997, by the Director of Health all the more disconcerting. Steifel had been stonewalling the Department of Health for some time, and instead of the Department of Health independently establishing a target value for the batch and/or holding up certification procedures on the batch until cooperation from Steifel could be obtained voluntarily or involuntarily through legal process, the Director of Health blindly certified the batch. Too much was and is at stake for the Director of Health to be careless or haphazard in certifying the testing solutions for the breath testing instruments. In addition, I have serious concerns about the accessibility of the records and results of the individual gas chromatograms used in the analysis of the batch. These chromatograms should be made available for viewing by defense counsel or an expert on defendant's behalf.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.