Columbus and Central Ohio DUI OVI Attorney
Columbus, Ohio
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Eric E. Willison, Esq. (614) 580-4316Eric E. Willison, Esq. My name is Eric E. Willison and I have been defending Ohioans accused of drunk driving since 1996, both at the trial court and appellate court levels. I am a 1996 graduate of Capital University Law School and a 1992 graduate of The Ohio State University. I was also a security police officer in the United States Air Force and the Ohio Air National Guard, serving in Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991. I have represented clients in drunk driving cases all over the Central Ohio area, including but not limited to Franklin, Delaware, Union, Fairfield, Clinton, Madison, Morrow, Montgomery, Miami, and Clark Counties. |
What To Expect in a DUI Case
So long as you are not so intoxicated that you cannot manage yourself, once the police are done processing you on the evening of your arrest, you will often be issued a citation with a court date on it and if you can arrange it, someone can come by to pick you up. I have even seen cases where the police give the suspect a lift home.
If you are released, your first court date will usually be within a week. This will be your “arraignment” during which you will inform the court how you are going to plead to the charges. Most people plead ”not guilty” at the arraignment so that they can get a better look at the evidence against them through the discovery process. You can change your plea to “guilty” or “no contest” later if you want. I charge $300.00 to handle an arraignment.
The next court date will be a “pre-trial” hearing. If you have hired me to attend that pre-trial, I will file discovery requests for you so that you and I can assess the strength of the case against you. Evidence typically turned over at the pre-trial includes video of the stop (if there is any), police reports of what the officer says occurred, and various other paperwork.
At the pre-trial, I will also discuss the case with the prosecutor, pointing out any legal issues and seeing what kind of deal can be struck. If we can reach a plea bargain that both sides can live with, then we will put the plea on the record, the judge will issue sentence (often no jail time, but sometimes there is depending upon the circumstances), and the case is over. I charge $750.00 to file the motions mentioned above and attend the pre-trial and try to work the case out at the pre-trial hearing.
If no agreement can be reached, and you and I feel that there are important questions on the admissibility of evidence (see below), then I will set up a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence. At that hearing we will argue that the law requires that some or all of the evidence against you be suppressed (not considered) by the court. I charge $750.00 to set, prepare for and argue and/or attend a suppression motion. Sometimes deals are worked out before or in the middle of a suppression hearing. If the evidence is suppressed, that can put a big enough hole in the prosecutor’s case that the prosecutor may then consider a plea to a lesser charge or even a dismissal.
Lastly, if you feel strongly about the case and you want to go to trial, I will attend the trial with you and argue before the judge and/or jury that the evidence against you does not warrant a conviction. I charge $1,000.00 to prepare for and attend a trial. Sometimes deals are worked out just before or during the trial.
How I go about analyzing your Drunk Driving Case
Issues of Jurisdiction
The first thing I look at in any case is whether the officer was within his jurisdiction when he spotted you and stopped you. Extra jurisdictional stops rarely happen, but I leave no stone unturned in defending my clients. A DUI arrest can become problematical for the prosecutor if the officer was outside of his jurisdiction when the arrest and the alleged criminal act occurred.
The Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution gives you the right to be left alone by law enforcement unless there is either a warrant (for arrest or search), reasonable suspicion for a stop, or probable cause for an arrest. Since drunk driving usually happens after 5:00 p.m., the courts are closed and there won’t usually be a warrant. That leaves reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
So I look to see from the police officer’s report why it was that he pulled you over. If what you did that made him pull you over was not a crime, then there may be reasonable suspicion issues and your Fourth Amendment rights may have been violated. The remedy for a violation of the Fourth Amendment is suppression of the evidence against you.
Next, if there was reasonable suspicion to stop you, I look to see if there was probable cause to arrest you and take you back to the station to search your blood, breath, or urine for alcohol. I do this by analyzing the Field Sobriety Tests given by the road side, what the police officer says about you in his police report (indicia of consumption of alcohol), and whether there was any erratic driving. If there was no probable cause to arrest you and take you back to the station, then your Fourth Amendment rights have been violated. The remedy for a violation of the Fourth Amendment is suppression of the evidence against you.
The Fifth Amendment
Once you have been taken into custody, you have a right against self-incrimination. Unless you have been read your Miranda Rights, any response you make to law enforcement’s questions while under arrest are inadmissible against you. I check to see when you were Mirandized and when your statements (if any) were made. The remedy for a violation of the Fifth Amendment is suppression of the self-incriminating evidence against you.
Administrative Rules for Administration of Tests
The Ohio Director of Health as enacted various administrative rules governing the administration of alcohol testing. The most prevalent testing method is the breath test. The rules require that the test be given to you within 3 hours of the time you were driving. In one car accidents which were not witnessed by anyone, this can be difficult to establish so I always check the time of the stop and the time of the test. The officer administering the test must have the proper credentials to administer the test so I always check those back at the police station.
The police must observe you for at least 20 minutes prior to the test so I always check to see if that was done. If you were pulled over near the police station at 1:00 a.m. and tested at 1:17 a.m., then the 20 minute rule has been violated.
The testing equipment must be calibrated every seven days, and calibration logs must be kept for the last three years. The testing device must read accurate to within .005 of the test solution. The test solution must be used within one year of its manufacture and within 3 months of its first use. The police even have to make sure that their radios are not affecting the testing and calibration processes (this is called RFI). I always check to see that calibration has been performed correctly. You would be surprised at how often the ‘I’s are not dotted and the ‘T’s are not crossed.
If any of the Director of Health’s rules have been violated, there will be issues regarding the admissibility of the results.
Review of Video of the Stop
Many law enforcement vehicles have video cameras and audio recording devices which can capture what happened during the stop. I always review these as some juries have a hard time believing that someone who looks sober is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, especially when there has been either a refusal to test or when the test results have been thrown out.
Motion for Limited Driving Privileges
Once you are arrested and charged with drunk driving in Ohio, your driver’s license is automatically suspended, even though you have not been found guilty yet. The law “makes it fair” by allowing you to apply for and receive limited driving privileges so that you can drive to and from work and/or school. I always fill out a privileges entry and submit it to the judge as early on in the case as I can (currently there is a waiting period of 15 days for those who took and flunked the test and 30 days for those who refused the test). There can be other waiting periods based upon any past convictions.
Bargaining with the Prosecutor
Most prosecutors start out each morning with a stack of cases a foot high. 80 percent of them are slam dunks, but 20% have serious legal issues that make them no sure thing. These get put in a different pile and these are where the deals are. My goal is to identify and point out the problems with the case to the prosecutor so that I can get you from the “slam dunk” pile to the “let’s make a deal” pile.
Statements in Mitigation
Even if there is nothing to be done about your case and you end up pleading or being found guilty, I work hard to get to know enough of your personal information that I can humanize you before the sentencing judge so that he or she sees you as a person, not a faceless statistic. My goal is to get you the minimum sentence for the conviction. A good statement in mitigation from an attorney can often have an effect here.
Contact me about your DUI charge:
Eric E. Willison, Esq.
625 City Park Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43206
(614) 580-4316
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