State v. Nichols, Unpublished Decision (7-31-2002)
State v. Nichols, Unpublished Decision (7-31-2002)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 3} At his initial appearance on the charges, appellant appealed the ALS. After a hearing, the trial court denied appellant's appeal and continued the ALS.
{¶ 4} On June 6, 2001, appellant filed a Motion to Suppress the BAC test result, arguing that the State was unable to provide a proper foundation to admit the evidence. Appellant contended that the Guth 34C Simulator and its thermometers have known temperature variances, tolerances and error factors making it impossible for the State to show that OAC
{¶ 5} On June 15, 2001, the trial court denied appellant's suppression motion without hearing. Appellant filed a motion to reconsider on June 18, 2001. On June 19, 2001, the trial court granted the motion to reconsider, in part. The trial court granted a suppression hearing on the sole issue of whether the BAC Datamaster denoted an error existing immediately prior to appellant's test. However, the trial court denied the motion to suppress without hearing as to all other issues, including the issue regarding the accuracy of the Guth 34C Simulator.
{¶ 6} On June 29, 2001, prior to the suppression hearing, appellant pled no contest to DUI,
{¶ 7} It is from the conviction and sentence that appellant appeals, raising the following assignments of error:
{¶ 8} I. "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW AND COMMITTED PLAIN ERROR WHEN IT DID NOT ACQUIT THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT OF THE UNDERAGE CONSUMPTION OFFENSE UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE STATE'S EXPLANATION OF CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH FAILED TO INCLUDE THE AGE OF THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT, THE SAME BEING REQUIRED BY O.R.C.
2937.07 ."{¶ 9} II. "THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR WHEN IT ADMITTED THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT'S MAY 12, 2001 BAC TEST RESULT AS EVIDENCE AGAINST HIM IN HIS ALS APPEAL."
{¶ 10} III. "THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR WHEN IT DENIED DEFENDANT-APPELLANT'S SUPPRESSION MOTION WITHOUT A HEARING AND BEING BASED UPON REASONING NOT SUPPORTED BY FACTS IN THE RECORD AND UPON INCORRECT LAW."
{¶ 11} IV. "THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR WHEN IT DID NOT ORDER THE STATE TO PROVIDE THE DISCOVERY DEFENDANT/APPELLANT WAS ENTITLED TO AND SO MOVED ON JUNE 6, 2001."
{¶ 12} V. "THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR WHEN IT ADMITTED THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT'S MAY 12, 2001 BAC TEST RESULT AS EVIDENCE AGAINST HIM FOR THE ALLEGED OFFENSE OF R. C.
4511.19 (A)(3)."
{¶ 14} In order to obtain a conviction of a defendant who has pled no contest, the state must offer an explanation of the circumstances to support the charge. This explanation is sufficient if it supports all the essential elements of the offense. Chagrin Falls v. Katelanos (1988),
{¶ 15} The "evil" the Ohio Supreme Court proscribed in CuyahogaFalls v. Bowers was a trial court making a finding of guilty in a "perfunctory fashion." The Supreme Court reversed Bowers' conviction when the record reflected that the trial court considered nothing but a computer printout of the defendant's driving record to convict the defendant of DUI. In so doing, the Supreme Court distinguished the case of State v. Herman (1971),
{¶ 16} In the case sub judice, the following discussion occurred subsequent to sentencing but before the conclusion of the hearing:
{¶ 17} MR. SKELTON: Judge, just for the sake of appeal, I can't remember in my recitation of facts whether I put anything in there of the deputy determining that the defendant was under the age of 21. Does the court want to reopen that? Did it take judicial notice of his age?
{¶ 18} THE COURT: I don't know if there was ever a question at this point. It's in the file.
{¶ 19} MR. SKELTON: It hasn't been questioned —
{¶ 20} THE COURT: — Why is this becoming so difficult?
{¶ 21} MR. SKELTON: I don't want to visit this —
{¶ 22} THE COURT: — You don't recall saying that?
{¶ 23} MR. SKELTON: I don't recall saying that.
{¶ 24} THE COURT: I thought you said it was five months before he was 21. Then I guess I can't say specifically whether that's what Mr. Blackwell said in chambers before we came out here or whether you said it on the record.
{¶ 25} MR. SKELTON: If you can get Mr. Blackwell to waive that issue or we can go back and open it up.
{¶ 26} THE COURT: Mr. Blackwell, what's your preference?
{¶ 27} MR. BLACKWELL: I won't waive any issues, Your Honor.
{¶ 28} THE COURT: All right. The court will take judicial notice of the information in the file in regard to the defendant's age. The court will also allow the state to reopen the presentation of evidence and proffer that the defendant's age is less than 21. Is that what you wish to do? And that he informed the deputy of that.
{¶ 29} MR. SKELTON: That's correct, Judge.
{¶ 30} THE COURT: This is a sloppy way to do it, but it will get it done. Anything further?
{¶ 31} MR. SKELTON: No.
{¶ 32} MR. BLACKWELL: No, Your Honor.
{¶ 33} THE COURT: The Court will stand in recess.
{¶ 34} Transcript of Proceedings, pages 20-22.
{¶ 35} We agree that there was no explicit statement of appellant's age prior to finding appellant guilty. However, the record shows that the trial court prior to finding appellant guilty, was aware of and relied upon the court file which showed that appellant was underage, Transcript of Proceedings at page 21, supra. Further, the record shows that there had been a previous discussion in chambers during which appellant's counsel indicated to the trial court that appellant was under 21 years of age, Transcript of Proceedings, at page 21. Lastly, after finding appellant guilty, the trial court and appellant had a lengthy discussion as to where and how appellant managed to obtain beer and whether appellant was asked for I.D. prior to purchasing the beer. We conclude that the record shows that the trial court was aware of appellant's age through its review of the court's file.
{¶ 36} Further, when faced with this issue previously, this court noted that "[t]he statute does not prescribe a time or sequence within which the `explanation of circumstances' must take place. It is clear here that the trial judge and the defendant both had heard `explanation of circumstances' as to some of the charges at the time of the lengthy suppression hearing. We will not assume that either forgot them at the time of the judgment on suppression or at the time of accepting the plea, less than a month later. It is in this regard that we distinguish the holding in Bowers, supra." State v. Wendell (Jan. 14, 1991), Stark App. No. CA-8179, unreported, 1991 WL 6288.
{¶ 37} In this case, the trial court Judge had presided over the ALS Appeal Hearing held about a month before. At the ALS Appeal Hearing, the arresting officer testified that appellant admitted to being only 20 years of age at the time of the arrest. Transcript of Proceedings at page 4. Just as in Wendell, "the trial court and defendant had, in fact, the benefit of the record evidence of the circumstances surrounding the [charge]." Id.
{¶ 38} In conclusion, when the record is reviewed in toto, we must conclude that this was not a perfunctory finding of guilty and that the trial court considered a sufficient set of circumstances to support appellant's conviction.
{¶ 39} Appellant's first assignment of error is overruled.
{¶ 41} The administrative suspension of appellant's driver's license is a separate civil action which is unrelated to the criminal case charging appellant with driving while under the influence of alcohol. Ohio Bur. of Motor Vehicles v. Williams (1994),
{¶ 42} Appellant's second assignment of error is overruled as untimely.
{¶ 44} Appellate Rule 16(A)(7) states, in relevant part, that an appellant's brief shall include "[a]n argument containing the contentions of the appellant with respect to each assignment of error presented for review and the reasons in support of the contentions, with citations to the authorities, statutes, and parts of the record on which appellant relies." We find no argument on this issue in appellant's brief. Appellate Rule 12(A)(2) states that "the court may disregard an assignment of error presented for review if the party raising it fails to identify in the record the error on which the assignment of error is based or fails to argue the assignment separately in the brief, as required under App.R. 16(A)."
{¶ 45} Although appellant addresses the assignment of error in his reply brief, we find that placing the argument in the reply brief is not a substitute for complying with App.R. 16(A)(7). First, the Appellate Rules expressly state that the argument must be in the initial brief filed by appellant. Second, App.R. 16(C) states that a reply brief is to "reply to the brief of the appellee." New assignments of error cannot be raised in a reply brief. Sheppard v. Mack (1980),
{¶ 46} Appellant's fourth assignment of error is overruled.
{¶ 48} In his motion to suppress, appellant claimed that the State of Ohio failed to meet the requirements of OAC
{¶ 49} Appellant argues that the simulator operator does not record the actual temperature of the breath simulator on the checklist, but, rather simply writes down a check mark if the temperature he/she reads from the thermometer of the simulator is somewhere between 33.8 and 34.2 degrees Celsius. The appellant sets forth that there are three things wrong with this procedure. The first is that the thermometers on the simulator operate within a range of accuracy. The mercury thermometer on the breath simulator in this case was .02 degrees Celsius in error on April 28, 1999. In addition, this thermometer may lose accuracy over time, and has a built-in variance of .01 degrees Celsius. The dial thermometer is less accurate and can only be read to the nearest .5 degree Celsius. Therefore, the thermometer readings may not necessarily reflect the actual temperature of the simulator. Second, the simulator operator does not record the exact temperature he/she reads from the thermometer but only records whether it was between 33.8 and 34.2 degrees Celsius. Third, the operator does not record which thermometer he/she reads when checking the temperature. It is arguable that if the operator recorded the exact temperature reading and recorded which thermometer this reading was taken from, and if that thermometer's accuracy could be tested, then the actual temperature at which the simulator was operating could be calculated. But, since this information is not available in this case, appellant argues that the exact temperature of the breath simulator is unknown. Therefore, appellant argues, the State cannot establish the accuracy of the Datamaster in this case, and the BAC test done on the appellant with this Datamaster should be suppressed. We disagree.
{¶ 50} A brief synopsis of the process to test appellant's breath and requirements to admit that test as evidence is necessary. In the case sub judice, a BAC Datamaster was used to determine appellant's BAC. The BAC Datamaster is one of several evidential breath testing instruments approved for use in Ohio. See OAC
{¶ 51} Evidence of alcohol concentration in a person's breath which are analyzed in accordance with the procedures provided in the OAC are admissible. R.C.
{¶ 52} Returning to appellant's arguments, we find that the trial court did not err in denying appellant an oral hearing on those issues nor in denying appellant's motion to suppress. A hearing is not mandated to be held on every motion to suppress. See Crim.R. 12(F).2 "In order to require a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence, the accused must state the motion's legal and factual bases with sufficient particularity to place the prosecutor and the court on notice of the issues to be decided. (Crim.R. 473 and Xenia v. Wallace (1988),
{¶ 53} To warrant relief an accused must state sufficient facts or law to demonstrate that the State failed to substantially comply with the applicable regulations. Appellant essentially argues that the State failed to substantially comply with the applicable regulations when it failed to record the actual temperature of the Guth 34C Breath Simulator. We find that that allegation alone, when all other testing procedures were complied with, is insufficient to warrant relief.
{¶ 54} Appellant does not contend that a senior operator failed to timely conduct an instrument check per OAC
{¶ 55} This court notes that when the instrument check was conducted using the Guth 34C before and after appellant's BAC test, the BAC Datamaster returned test results that indicated the BAC Datamaster was accurately testing samples. Pursuant to OAC
{¶ 56} We acknowledge that one could argue then why does the Director of Health continue to require the temperature of the simulator to be verified on the Datamaster checklist. We find that that is necessary for a correct test of the Datamaster, because that requirement does limit the range in which the simulator must operate. We find that the Guth 34C Breath Simulator is electronically pre-set to operate at 34 degrees +/- .05 degrees Celsius. The manual for the Guth 34C sets forth the variances in each thermometer and we presume the Director of Health is aware of the contents of that manual. We also presume that the Director of Health knows that the temperature of the Guth 34C will be read from one of these thermometers and anticipated such in formulating the checklist. We find that the State is in substantial compliance with the OAC when the senior operator reads a temperature from one of the thermometers on the simulator that is between 34 degrees +/- .2 degrees Celsius, and records on the checklist a check mark next to the phrase "with the simulator at 34 degrees +/- .2 degrees Celsius, and the ultimate reading from the Datamaster reads within .005 grams of the test solutions number.
{¶ 57} Appellant has also failed to show prejudice. Appellant stated no facts or law to indicate that the Guth 34C used on the BAC Datamaster in question was not providing accurate temperature readings. When the Guth 34C was used to conduct instrument checks before and after appellants' BAC test, the BAC Datamaster returned results within the required target value range. According to records appellant submitted to the trial court, instrument checks were performed on the BAC Datamaster in question on May 8, 2001 and May 15, 2001, respectively. Appellant's BAC test was conducted on that machine on May 12, 2001. The records submitted by appellant show that the May 15, 2001 instrument check results were within the target value range and give no indication that the instrument check results from May 8, 2001 were not within the target value range. Further, appellant raised no issue as to whether the BAC Datamaster in question failed the May 8, 2001 and May 15, 2001 instrument checks. Therefore, this court presumes that the BAC Datamaster passed those instrument checks. Appellant has not presented facts and law to show that his test results were inaccurate.
{¶ 58} In conclusion, we find that the trial court did not err when it denied appellant a hearing on the motion to suppress regarding the issues which challenged whether the State had complied with the OAC regarding the temperature of the Guth 34C simulator. Further, we find the trial court did not err in denying appellant's motion to suppress and using the appellant's BAC Datamaster test results as evidence against appellant.
{¶ 59} Appellants' third and fifth assignments of error are overruled.
{¶ 60} The judgment of the Municipal Court of Coshocton County, Ohio is affirmed.
By EDWARDS, J. GWIN, P.J. and FARMER, J. concur
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.