An Ohio man pleaded not guilty to several charges he was handed after a traffic stop on Oct. 22. The man was accused of driving drunk in Warren Township with two children in his vehicle. Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers stopped the man while he was traveling on State Route 422 and allegedly determined that he was intoxicated.
In addition to a drunk driving charge, the man was handed charges for driving in marked lanes, theft and operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license. Because there were two children in the man’s vehicle, ages 7 and 9, the man is facing one count of endangering children.
The accused man was held at Trumbull County Jail after the incident, and he was still at the jail three days later. After his arraignment in Warren Municipal Court, the man was scheduled to appear in court next on Nov. 8. There were no other details released about the traffic stop, so it is unclear why the man was stopped or what testing method was used to determine his blood-alcohol level.
People who have been charged with drunk driving may choose to plead not guilty if they believe that the prosecution does not have enough evidence to convict them. A criminal defense attorney may be able to help a DUI defendant to argue that police conducted a traffic stop without probable cause, and the evidence from a field sobriety test is unscientific. If there was a breath or blood test conducted, an attorney may argue that the test was administered improperly.
Source: WKBN, “Man charged with drunk driving in Warren Twp. with children in car,” Chelsea Simeon, Oct. 25, 2016
