State v. Dingman, Unpublished Decision (8-4-2004)
State v. Dingman, Unpublished Decision (8-4-2004)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 2} On December 3, 2003, appellant pled no contest to the charges. By judgment entry filed December 11, 2003, the trial court found appellant guilty of R.C.
{¶ 3} Appellant filed an appeal and this matter is now before this court for consideration. Assignments of error are as follows:
{¶ 7} This is the same issue addressed by this court inState v. Musick, Licking App. No. 01CA77, 2002-Ohio-2890. InMusick, this court found an unauthenticated or uncertified copy of a calibration solution affidavit was inadmissible at a suppression hearing therefore, the state had failed to meet its burden. Applying Musick to this case, we find the trial court erred in admitting the uncertified copy of the calibration solution affidavit.
{¶ 8} Assignment of Error I is granted.
{¶ 10} BAC Datamaster breath testing machines must be calibrated by a senior operator. Ohio Adm. Code
{¶ 11} "I mean we can stipulate the permit that Mark Glennon was operating under on February 15 of this year would have been a permit that was issued March 12 of 2001 and from the Director of Health and it was due to expire two years from that March 12, 2001 date. His new permit that he's operating under now is to expire one year from March 12 of 2003 and has been now re-issued." T. at 5.
{¶ 12} On the face of the senior operator's certificate, the permit was issued for two years. The mere fact that subsequent to its issuance new guidelines were established limiting a certificate's life to one year does not in and of itself invalidate a previously issued valid certificate.
{¶ 13} Appellant argues the controlling date sub judice should be the date of the breathalyzer test, February 15, 2003, and not the issuance date of the certificate. To support this argument, appellant points to a case wherein the regulation pertaining to radio frequency interference survey was amended and the court found the date of the breathalyzer test to be controlling as to which administrative regulation controlled.State v. Mook (July 15, 1998), Wayne App. No. 97CA0069. We find this case not to be controlling because the administrative regulation therein concerned the actual testing of the BAC Datamaster machine. Here, Trooper Glennon's certificate was validly issued. The change in the administrative regulation did not address a substantive issue, but a procedural one, to wit, the length of a certificate's validity.
{¶ 14} We are loath to set a procedure where the term of a certificate, valid when issued, becomes invalid by subsequent regulation that does not affect the substantive nature of the certificate.
{¶ 15} Assignment of Error II is denied.
{¶ 16} The judgment of the New Philadelphia Municipal Court of Tuscarawas County, Ohio is hereby reversed.
Judgment reversed.
Gwin, P.J. concurs.
Hoffman, J. concurs in part, and dissents in part.
Dissenting Opinion
{¶ 17} I concur in the majority's analysis and disposition of appellant's second assignment of error.
{¶ 18} I respectfully dissent from the majority's disposition of appellant's first assignment of error for the reasons set forth in this Court's Opinion in State v. Edwards (Feb. 24, 2004), Tuscarawas App. No. 2003AP090077, unreported.
{¶ 19} I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.
For the reasons stated in the Memorandum-Opinion on file, the judgment of the New Philadelphia Municipal Court of Tuscarawas County, Ohio is reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of Ohio v. Richard Dingman
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Unpublished