Ohio DUI Law - Boilerplate Motion Alert

Ohio’s Twelfth District Court of Appeals has held that when a defendant files a “boilerplate” suppression motion (meaning one that lists all objections in general terms rather than in specifics dependent upon the facts of the particular case), then the burden of the state of Ohio to show substantial compliance becomes “slight.”

There are two reasons why defense attorneys file boilerplate motions to suppress. First, the boilerplate motion contains every possible argument such that the defense attorney is assured that he is not leaving anything out. Secondly, attorneys know that cops lie, and if you file a motion specific enough that they can figure out what the issue is, they will lie their way around it. But if you file a generalized boilerplate motion, the cops won’t know how to lie.

But the Twelfth District, in its “search for the truth” wants to make sure that the cops know exactly what the attorney is arguing long before they have to get on the stand.

So if your attorney is filing a motion to suppress in your case, ask him if his motion is boilerplate or contains specifics tailored to the facts of your case, and cite the case of State v. Deutsch, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 4764 (November 3, 2008), Warren Co. App. No. CA2008-03-035 unreported, to his attention.