Brought to you by Colorado DUI Drunk Driving Defense

Northfield DUI Lawyers

1. Fletcher, Peter: Ohio drunk driving cases are referred to as Ohio OVI (operating a vehicle while intoxicated), Ohio DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol), or Ohio OMVI (operating a motor vehicle while under the influence, impaired, or intoxicated). All of these acronyms relate to the same offense, found in the Ohio Revised Code. Ohio drunk driving (OVI) arrests trigger two separate cases: the court case, where penalties include jail time, fines, mandatory classes, and more; and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles case, where the arrestee's driving privileges are at stake. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you can handle these cases by yourself.
2. James Pearl: What is driving "under the influence" or "over the legal limit"?
   
   In Ohio, alcohol related offenses include BOTH:
   (1) driving driving under the influence of alcohol or a drug of abuse
   (often referred to as "OVI"); and
   (2) driving over the legal limit (often referred to as "BAC").
   
   One can be convicted of being "under the influence" if a jury
   determines that:
   "the defendant consumed some alcohol or drug of abuse, whether mild
   or potent, in such a quantity, whether small or great, that it adversely
   affected and appreciably impaired the defendant's actions, reactions, or
   mental processes under the circumstances then existing and deprived
   him of that clearness of intellect and control of himself which he would
   otherwise have possessed."
   
   
   This is generally the instruction given to juries when they deliberate in
   a DUI/DWI trial.
   
   In Ohio, even if you are not "under the influence," you may still be
   guilty of a alcohol related crime if you are "over the legal limit."
   Driving over the legal limit is not the same as driving under the
   influence" (although the two may certainly occur at the same time). As
   you are probably aware, a person can be over the legal limit without
   that level of alcohol impairing the person's ability to drive (or do other
   things) appropriately. Conversely, a person can be under the legal limit
   and still have that level of alcohol to impair that person's ability to
   drive (or do other things). In Ohio, the legal limit for persons 21 and
   over is any of the following:
   
   .08% (by weight) for blood, or
   over .08 of 1 gram (by weight) per 200 liters of for breath, or
   .14 of a gram (by weight) per 100 milliliters of urine.
   For persons under 21 it is even less (e.g. .02% (by weight) for blood.)
   It is possible to be charged with both being under the influence and
   driving over the legal limit, and it is possible to be convicted of both.
   However, if one is convicted of both (for the same incident), then he
   can only be sentenced for one. Most times a person is arrested for a
   DWI offense, they are charged with both. This way the police and the
   prosecution have two shots at a conviction.