State v. McDonald

Citations

• 2023 Ohio 464

Syllabus

Traffic stop window-tint violation motion to suppress reasonable suspicion trial court judgment issued after appeal. The trial court's judgment, which was issued after this appeal was taken, directly related to and affected the matter assigned as error on appeal and was, therefore, inconsistent with this court's jurisdiction to reverse, modify, or affirm the trial court's judgment. Therefore, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to issue its judgment while the appeal was pending and that judgment is void. The record demonstrates that the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop the motorist. The officer testified that he observed the defendant driving a vehicle with window tint on the driver and front passenger windows that was extremely dark. The officer testified that the window tint on those two windows must allow 50 percent light in, and he did not believe they did. Even if the officer was mistaken about the window tint, that mistake would go to the sufficiency of the evidence, not the reasonableness of the stop.