OMVI/OVI/DUI AND OTHER TRAFFIC CASES

Attorney Mike Streng's superior reputation with the courts, the prosecutor’s office, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) and his clients is dependent on his vigorous and zealous advocacy in every case he handles, especially yours.  He will work vigilantly and tirelessly to resolve your case in the best way possible.

OMVI/OVI/DUI – BMV ISSUES

If you are changed with OMVI/OVI/DUI, there are two avenues that must be followed.  The first is with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV).  In an OMVI/OVI/DUI case, we will initially appeal your administrative license suspension (ALS).  This appeal will be heard at a "suppression hearing" along with the criminal side of the case.  In this hearing the BMV is represented by the city prosecutor’s office and challenges whether or not your license was suspended within the bounds of what the Ohio Revise Code allows.

OMVI/OVI/DUI – CRIMINAL ISSUES

The second avenue is the criminal case.  Your first court appearance is known as your “arraignment”.  This is the hearing where the judge advises what charges are filed against you and requests a plea to be entered on your behalf. 

If you do not have an attorney, we strongly recommend that if you request a “continuance” to discuss your case with an attorney such as Mike Streng who is familiar with the locality and specializes in that particular area of law. 

The court will usually continue your arraignment for at least two weeks.  If you retain Cannizzaro, Fraser, Bridges, Jillisky & Streng, Mr. Streng will enter a “not guilty” plea on your behalf.  He will then obtain the discovery package, which includes the complaint, a police report, breathalyzer records, urinalysis, blood analysis,  video and other evidence which we will copy and forward to you within a couple of days for your review. 

The judge, in concluding the arraignment, will decide whether any conditions of bond should be imposed on you while the case is pending.  Usually in Ohio, the court will impose a license suspension and/or impoundment of the vehicle depending on whether or not you have prior convictions.  Driving privileges may be granted at this time depending on the facts of your case, what county your case is in, and whether or not you have taken a blood alcohol test (breathalyzer, blood, or urine).

The court will then schedule a future court appearance known as a “pretrial conference”.  Your case may have one or several pretrial conferences.  The pretrial conference is a hearing where the prosecutor, defense attorney and the judge review the evidentiary and legal issues that may be involved in your case.  At this hearing it is common that a plea offer and/or sentencing recommendation is discussed and any pretrial motions may be heard.

PRETRIAL MOTIONS

Before trial it may be necessary to file some pretrial motions that will require your attendance to challenge the admissibility of the State’s evidence. A ruling in your favor can result in evidence being excluded from being used against you in a trial, including evidence of a blood, urine or breath test, the results of some or all of the field sobriety tests, or adverse statements you may have made.  Successful pre-trial motions often compel the prosecutor to make an advantageous plea bargain offer, or can result in the dismissal of the charge based on an unconstitutional stop or arrest.

JURY TRIAL

Finally, a “jury trial” date will be scheduled whether or not you desire to go to trial.  This additional court date will give us one final chance to resolve the case. The jury trial process can be a lengthy one, determined by the county in which your case is to be heard.  If you decide that you want a jury trial, your trial fees will have to be paid in full two weeks prior to the jury trial date.  Payment for jury trial is not an option.  Therefore, you should start budgeting for trial as soon as possible.  

The first thing we deal with is the “motions in limine” to exclude/preclude or limit evidence.  Next we start the jury selection or “voir dire” process. During the voir dire, questions are posed to prospective jurors regarding their bias, prejudices and fitness to stand as a juror in an OMVI/OVI/DUI case.  In Ohio, misdemeanor cases call for eight person juries, and usually one or two alternate jurors as backup if the trial will last longer than one day.  All jurors must agree in order to convict a defendant and it takes only one person to hang the jury, requiring a mistrial. 

After the jury is selected, both the prosecutor and defense attorney has the option of delivering an opening statement.  The prosecutor has the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, so after opening statements the prosecution starts calling their witness against you.  Usually the first witness is the police officer that made the arrest.  Following the law enforcement officer(s) is usually the person who administered the breathalyzer test or who collected the blood or urine specimen.  The next witness is the state’s forensic toxicologist who will discuss the amount of alcohol in the blood or urine specimen.  The State may also call eye witnesses, if there are any.  After that, the prosecution rests.  Following each witness of the prosecution, and before their next witness, it is the defense counsel’s opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses the state calls against you.  Like a skilled surgeon cutting open a patient to expose the problems, our cross-examination of the officer(s) and forensic toxicologist should do no less.  Rigorous cross-examination is the only engine for truth in an OMVI/OVI/DUI or criminal trial. 

After calling their last witness, the State rests their case.  The defense may or may not put on a case.  Depending on the circumstances of the case, we may or may not call any witnesses to the stand.  If we do call any witness(es) it could be the people who were with you the evening of your arrest and/or who were in your car when pulled over, one of the officers not called by the prosecution, a private investigator and/or our own forensic toxicologist.  Once we have presented our case, the prosecution has an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses.  Then, the judge, the prosecution and defense will discuss how to instruct the jury on the law.  Next, both counsels will engage in a closing argument.

After closing argument, the jury will be sent to deliberate and attempt to reach a verdict.  Sometimes during deliberations jurors will pose questions to the court, and counsel will argue about the appropriate responses from the court to the jury.  The deliberation process will yield one of two outcomes, a verdict or an inability to reach a decision resulting in a hung trial/mistrial.  Depending on how the vote went, the prosecutor has the option of re-trying the case at a future date, offering a plea bargain to a reduced charge, or dismissing the case. 

COURT ATTIRE

You will be required to appear at all scheduled hearings and should dress appropriately.  Men, when you are scheduled to appear in court please wear a suit, pants with a shirt and jacket, or pants with a shirt and tie. Women should also dress professionally.  Please do not wear sunglasses, a baseball cap, short tops or shorts.  When going to court dress and act like you would if you were applying for a job or attending a funeral.

CLIENT NOTICE

After each development in your case a letter will be sent to you outlining what has occurred, when the next appearance is scheduled, copies of any documents relating to your case, as well as important information which may be needed from you.  In other words, you will be informed throughout the process of all that is going on with your case.  If you have questions regarding your case that our letters do not address, please do not hesitate to contact our office. Mr. Streng's legal assistants can usually answer the basic questions such as confirming court dates, payment due dates, and verifying certain information in the file.  If you need to speak with Mr. Streng directly and he is not in the office when you call, please leave a detailed message with his staff so that he can return your phone call promptly with a response.  He is usually in court every morning and the best time to reach him directly is early afternoon.

Remember that you are not to discuss your case with anyone except Mr. Streng, his office staff, and those people he has directed to speak with you.  If you have any questions concerning this, please call our office immediately.  Furthermore, if you receive any documents relating to this arrest, please forward them to our office at once.

CLIENT RESPONSIBILITES

In an OMVI/OVI/DUI case you will be asked to review the police report, review BMV transcripts, complete the questionnaire, make your payments and provide documents and witnesses.  There may not be much else for you to do and that may be a bit frustrating. Please be assured that we are working vigorously and diligently on your case so your patience, understanding and consideration will be requested and appreciated.