Implied Consent in Warren

When you’re arrested for driving under the influence, the officer making the arrest will want to test your breath, blood, or urine to measure how much alcohol is in your system. Under Ohio law, simply by driving a vehicle in the state, you’ve already given your agreement to take these tests. If you say no, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will automatically suspend your driving privileges through something known as an ALS, or Administrative License Suspension.

Section 4511.191 of the Ohio Revised Code spells out exactly what counts as refusing a chemical test. The officer arresting you must follow the law precisely for your response to be treated as a true refusal. As any Warren OVI attorney will tell you, the law also considers that you agreed to take these tests the moment you signed for your driver’s license. That signature is treated as your consent.

When an officer stops you for OVI (operating a vehicle while intoxicated), they’re required to read you the implied consent warning written into the law. The officer will ask whether you consent, you’ll answer yes or no, and the situation moves forward from there. It sounds simple, but the details matter a great deal.

On top of the ALS mentioned above, refusing a chemical test carries criminal consequences too. For instance, the prosecutor can turn your refusal against you in court. They may argue that you knew you were guilty of OVI, that the test would have shown your BAC was over the legal limit, and that this is the very reason you wouldn’t take it. A skilled Warren criminal lawyer can help you push back against this kind of argument.

I’ve Refused to Submit Once Before… What Now?

Ohio law treats repeat refusals seriously. If you refuse chemical testing after being arrested on suspicion of OVI, and this is the second time within the past 20 years that you’ve done so (and you were convicted on the earlier occasion or occasions), you may face additional charges. You’ll find this outlined in Section 4511.19(A)(2) of the Ohio Revised Code. The penalties grow heavier with each refusal, which is why understanding your situation early is so valuable.

Defenses for Refusal to Submit

You do have the right to refuse chemical testing, although it’s rarely a wise choice, and any Warren OVI attorney will strongly advise against it. Still, even if you have refused, your case isn’t necessarily lost. There may be more options available to you than you’d expect.

There are plenty of reasons an officer might believe a suspect refused when they actually didn’t. Consider a few examples:

• A person with COPD or asthma may simply be unable to breathe deeply enough to register a reading on a breath test machine.
• A person with hearing loss might not have understood what the officer was saying to them.
• Likewise, someone whose first or native language isn’t English may not grasp what’s being asked of them.
• A person with a speech impediment may have agreed to testing, only for the officer to mishear and assume a refusal.
• A person with a neurological disorder or learning disability might not understand the officer’s instructions and could become anxious or agitated, leading the officer to interpret that reaction as refusal.

Keep in mind that the officer is required to follow the law exactly, without slipping up. It’s entirely possible they overlooked a step during your arrest, and that mistake could undermine their conclusion that you refused chemical testing. An experienced Warren criminal lawyer knows precisely where to look for these errors.

Whatever the circumstances, mistakes do happen. Just because the police believe you refused chemical testing doesn’t make it true. A well-trained Warren OVI attorney like Sean Logue understands all the ways a genuine attempt to submit can be mistaken for a refusal. He brings over a decade of experience defending clients across every aspect of OVI law, and he’s seen these scenarios play out many times.

If you choose to hire Sean Logue from the Youngstown Criminal Law Group, he’ll sit down with you, listen to your account of the arrest and the alleged refusal, examine the evidence stacked against you, and map out a defense strategy. He’ll know whether the charges can be challenged and exactly how to do it. Contact us today at (330) 791-8104.