Client was followed by a state highway patrol officer and was eventually pulled over in her driveway for an alleged marked lanes violation. Once defense attorney Meranda's client was stopped she was asked to perform field sobriety tests (SFST). The client became extremely emotional due to being stopped and questions and was unable to perform any of the SFST. The trooper went ahead and arrested our client for OVI, a misdemeanor of the first degree carrying a maximum 180 days incarceration, a $1,075.00 fine and a 6 month up to 3 year license suspension; and a marked lanes violation, a minor misdemeanor carrying a fine of $150.00. After being arrested for these offense based on an alleged marked lanes violation and an odor of alcohol the trooper asked the client to submit to a breathalyzer exam. The client blew a .138 BAC. This is well over the legal limit in the state of Ohio -- .08 is the legal limit. Defense attorney Zachuary Meranda filed a motion to suppress based on the legal issue that his client did not commit a marked lanes violation and therefore the stop was illegal. Any evidence obtained after the illegal stop must be suppressed. At the suppression hearing defense attorney Zachuary Meranda presented evidence to the judge showing that there was no marked lanes violation in the video that would have allowed the trooper to stop his client. The judge agreed and granted defense attorney Zachuary Meranda's motion to suppress, therefore the subsequent breath test was thrown out leaving the prosecutor with no evidence of impairment to convict his client with an OVI offense. This was a victorious day for Attorney Meranda's client and it saved her the embarrassment of having an OVI offense on her record and saved her license.
