Change in Ohio’s OVI law with Annie’s Law: Part 1: Unlimited Driving Privileges and Ignition Interlock devices
A couple of week's ago on April 6, 2017, the Ohio legislature passed House Bills 388 and 436 which have come to be known as the Ignition Interlock Bill or Annie's Law. As a frame of reference, an ignition interlock is breath testing unit installed on a vehicle and it...
Change to Judicial Release eligibility: jail time credit (sometimes)
Back on September 7, I wrote about judicial release eligibility: see, here. Little did I know, a week later Senate Bill 97 would become effective on 9/14/16, changing judicial release eligibility as it relates to individuals serving five (5) year prison terms and...
Stick with it, in running and in law
So it's been about 5 months since I started training to run my first 5k, and, I'm still running. My first race was the Christmas Story Run (5K) on December 3, and then I ran the Resolution Run (5k) on January 7---let me add that for the Resolution Run it was 9 degrees...
Expanded Driving Privileges!
Even though having a drivers license is a privilege, it is one that many of us take for granted, and treat like a right. But in certain situations, if you are accused of a crime, like an OVI (same thing as a DUI), your ability to drive can be taken away, either...
Attempted Offenses of Violence not Expungeable
Earlier this month, the Ohio Supreme Court held that attempted robbery is an offense of violence and that pursuant to Ohio's expungement statutes, an individual with a conviction for attempted robbery is not eligible to have that conviction expunged or sealed. The...
NEW: Domestic Violence NOT Deportable in Ohio
Immigration is not a topic that has provided much hope in the past couple weeks as the United States and the world struggle to understand what a Trump presidency means for immigrants. I am by no means an immigration lawyer; but I do handle a good deal of...
Ding Dong the witch is dead! Mandatory Drug Suspensions are (mostly) GONE!
On September 13, 2016, Governor John Kasich signed into law S.B. 204 which eliminated mandatory drivers license suspensions in drug cases. More specifically, a drivers license suspension is now discretionary with the judge, and not mandatory, in drug cases not...
Becoming a running lawyer to help run my law practice
I started running this week. I was reaching a perilously unsafe place in my personal and professional life- panic attacks, eating unhealthy, no outlet for stress, and then I started making mistakes due to all these things: I almost missed a big deadline, I couldn't...
Judicial Release- when can someone be released early from prison?
One of the most heart-breaking situations a family can go through is having a loved one sentenced to a term of incarceration in prison. A question that frequently comes up is when the incarcerated individual can apply to be released early. There are laws in Ohio that...
Diversion in a criminal case- what does it mean?
Terms like diversion, or first-time offender’s programs, are thrown around a lot when an individual is facing criminal charges, misdemeanor or felony. The purpose of a diversion program is to save an individual from having a criminal conviction follow them around...
Why Domestic Violence is a Double Whammy
Just hearing the words domestic violence makes a lot of people uncomfortable. As a criminal defense attorney, my job is to uphold the Constitution, and represent my client to the best of my ability, no matter the allegation. A domestic violence conviction creates a...
Help! I just got an OVI- but I need driving privileges to get to work
One of the most comprising situations an individual can find him or herself in is being charged with an OVI, but needing to be able to drive to work, school, daycare. Here is the skinny on how driving privileges work. First: They are called driving privileges for a...