Ohio OVI Hearings

In Ohio driving drunk is usually referred to as operating a vehicle while intoxicated (OVI) and several other names that mean essentially the same thing.

No matter what your impaired driving charge is called - OVI, DUI, or OMVI, the consequences are just about the same. By the way, OMVI simply means operating a motor vehicle while under the influence, intoxicated or impaired. While it might be nice to have a variety of charges to choose from, driving drunk in Ohio is still driving drunk in Ohio. It's not a smart thing to do and the consequences will follow you for life.

Generally speaking, if you're picked up and arrested for an OVI, it may trigger two separate cases. The first one would be with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Act fast in this instance and make sure you have a competent attorney to help you because you have a very limited time frame in which to challenge the suspension of your driver's license. This is not a judicial hearing.

Just because there is a bureaucratic hearing doesn't mean you are done with the bad news. The second action in Ohio is the criminal case. The prosecutor needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you did indeed drive while loaded to the gills with drugs or alcohol, which had the reasonable result of impairing your mental and physical capabilities to a significant degree. To put this another way, if you had a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .08% on testing, you are presumed to have been driving under the influence, which is a fairly reasonable assumption.

OVI penalties are usually linked to whether or not you have a history of prior criminal and traffic offenses, how high your BAC was, and the details of your particular case. While this may surprise you, it should make some sense; the higher your BAC, the higher the penalties, sometimes even doubling what they may normally be.

If you're faced with an OVI charge in Ohio, make it a point to contact a skilled OVI attorney who knows the system inside out, and take some very smart advice from that same counsel. If you're stopped for an OVI, do not speak to anyone other than your attorney, or you will find the things you said coming back to haunt you later. Only your attorney needs to hear what you have to say. In most cases, your attorney may be able to intervene, reduce the charges, mitigate them or have the whole case thrown out.

Jeremiah Denslow is a Dayton Divorce Lawyer in Dayton Ohio with Denslow Law Firm. The firm specializes in family law. Jeremiah also practices Dayton criminal defense. To learn more, visit Denslowlaw.com.