State v. Howell

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 591
• 106 N.E.3d 337

Syllabus

AUTOS/CRIMINAL - CONSTITUTIONAL LAW/CRIMINAL - SEARCH AND SEIZURE - OVI: The trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress the unlawful stop of her car and all evidence gathered as a result of the unlawful stop where the arresting state trooper had erroneously determined that defendant had committed a violation of R.C. 4513.15(A)(1): the trooper's mistake of law was not reasonable where the statute unambiguously regulated the distribution of light to be used when a driver approaches an oncoming vehicle, and the trooper had testified that defendant had failed to dim her headlights while traveling on the interstate behind and in the same direction as the trooper. The totality of the circumstances surrounding the stop of defendant's vehicle did not provide a reasonable, articulable suspicion that defendant had committed, or was engaged in committing, a crime. [But see DISSENT: At the time of the traffic stop, the trooper possessed a reasonable, articulable suspicion that defendant was driving while impaired where he had witnessed her vehicle \bouncing\ within the marked lane, she had failed to dim her headlights when she approached him from behind, she had failed to pass him on the interstate when he slowed to 55 m.p.h., and he testified that he \continued to follow her just to see if there were any other signs.\]