State v. Reynolds
| Decision Date | 30 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | WD-21-084 |
| Citation | 2022 Ohio 3506 |
| Parties | State of Ohio/City of Bowling Green Appellee v. Erika Reynolds Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Hunter Brown, City of Bowling Green Prosecuting Attorney, and Nicholas P. Wainwright, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Michael B. Kelley, for appellant.
DECISION AND JUDGMENT
{¶ 1} Following a jury trial, defendant-appellant Erika Reynolds, appeals the November 16, 2021 judgment of the Bowling Green Municipal Court, convicting her of operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court judgment.
{¶ 2} A jury convicted Erika Reynolds of operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1)(a). She was sentenced to 93 days in jail, 90 days of which were suspended, a fine of $1,075.00, court costs, and a one-year license suspension. The state offered the following evidence at trial.
{¶ 3} On February 13, 2021, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Nicholas Palmer was patrolling a stretch of I-75 in Wood County when he received a call from dispatch reporting a reckless driver. Palmer located the vehicle-Reynolds's vehicle-and followed it. He observed the vehicle swerve within its own lane and ride on top of the lane divider, which he conceded are not traffic violations in this judicial district. He ultimately initiated a stop of the vehicle because it was traveling 75 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone. Palmer testified that it is not his usual practice to stop a vehicle for exceeding the speed limit by only five miles per hour, and, in fact, he did not cite Reynolds for speeding. Palmer confirmed that varying speeds can be a sign of impairment, as can following too closely, but he clocked Reynolds's speed only once, she was not following too closely, he did not see her drive recklessly, and he observed no other traffic violations. He also confirmed that Reynolds maneuvered her vehicle appropriately when he pulled her over.
{¶ 4} Palmer approached the vehicle, requested Reynolds's driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance, and asked general questions so that he could evaluate whether she was impaired. He noticed that her speech was slurred, her eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and her movements were lethargic. This indicated to Palmer that Reynolds could be impaired by drugs, alcohol, prescription medications, or a medical condition. He decided to extend the stop to further investigate.
{¶ 5} Palmer asked Reynolds if she had had anything to drink. She said no. After a consensual pat down for weapons, he performed several field sobriety tests. He began by asking if she had medical conditions or injuries that would prevent her from performing the tests, and specifically whether she had any medical conditions that would prevent her from seeing the tip of his pen for the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test. She said no, although she explained that she had monocular vision. Palmer administered the test, and he observed six out of six clues. He performed the vertical gaze nystagmus test, and nystagmus was present. Palmer next asked Reynolds if she had any physical or mental ailments that would prevent her from performing the walk-and-turn test. Reynolds said she had back pain and a knee abscess, but she performed the test. She swayed while balancing, moved her foot, and became agitated. Palmer then asked her to do the one-leg-stand test. She indicated that her abscess was on her left leg. She stood on her right foot and lifted her left foot. Reynolds said that she could not do the test.
{¶ 6} Palmer administered a preliminary breath test, which showed zero alcohol on Reynolds's breath, so he eliminated alcohol as a possible reason for impairment. At that point he suspected that Reynolds's impairment was caused by a controlled substance or prescription medication. He performed a modified Romberg test. He asked her to close her eyes, tilt her head back, put her arms down by her side, estimate the passage of 30 seconds, then bring her head back and tell him to stop. She estimated the passage of 30 seconds in 22 seconds-the normal range would have been 25 to 35 seconds. While she performed the test, Palmer observed body tremors, another indicator of impairment.
{¶ 7} Based on "the driving behavior," the reckless operating call, and Reynolds's performance on the field sobriety and modified Romberg tests, Palmer decided to place Reynolds under arrest. He read Reynolds her Miranda rights and performed a search incident to arrest. At some point during the stop, Reynolds told Palmer that she takes multiple medications.
{¶ 8} Because Palmer suspected that Reynolds's medications caused her to become impaired, he called dispatch to see if a drug recognition expert ("DRE") was available. Officer Amber Moomey, of the Bowling Green Police Department, evaluated Reynolds.
{¶ 9} Moomey testified that she was designated a DRE in 2018, after completing additional training. She stated that the methods she learned in her DRE training are generally recognized in her field and are relied upon by other police departments. Without objection from defense counsel, the court recognized Moomey as an expert. Moomey authored a report that was admitted into evidence, summarizing her evaluation of Reynolds.
{¶ 10} Before Moomey began her evaluation, Palmer told her only that it was a reckless operation case. He said that he had responded to a call of an impaired driver. Palmer was administering a breath alcohol test when Moomey arrived, so she waited until he was finished. That test indicated that Reynolds was not impaired by alcohol. Because the average police officer cannot determine non-alcohol-related impairment, Moomey forms her own opinion of a person's impairment based on information she has learned about what drugs do to the body. She does not take the trooper's word as to whether a person is impaired.
{¶ 11} Moomey noted Reynolds's clothing, including her shoes-she was wearing tall black boots. When Reynolds walked from the BAC room to the squad room, Moomey noticed that Reynolds sometimes walked with a limp and was unsteady on her feet. Before talking with Reynolds, she read her Miranda rights. At that point, she noticed that Reynolds's eyes were bloodshot and glassy, she had thick, slurred speech, she was fidgety during the evaluation, and she was constantly moving.
{¶ 12} In response to questions from Moomey, Reynolds said that she had not eaten that day and had last eaten the following night at 8:00 p.m. Between noon and 3:35 p.m., Reynolds consumed three Bang energy drinks. The night before, she slept from 1:00 a.m. until noon. Reynolds told Moomey she is not diabetic or epileptic; she has an abscess on her knee that makes it painful to walk sometimes; she had a lazy eye that was corrected; and she has monocular vision. She is on 14 different medications, including Lyrica, Adderall, Xanax, oxycodone, lidocaine patches, Zoloft, Valtrex, valcyclovic, acyclovic, an inhaler, propranolol, hydroxyzine, Zofran, and Phenergan. Moomey documented the medications, side effects, and when Reynolds last took them.
{¶ 13} Moomey examined Reynolds's eyes, then performed both HGN and VGN tests. Reynolds exhibited six out of six clues on the HGN test and vertical gaze nystagmus was present on the VGN test. Moomey administered the modified Romberg test-Reynolds estimated the passage of 30 seconds after only 21 seconds. Moomey administered the walk-and-turn test-Reynolds fell out of the start position twice, started crying, attributed her difficulty to her boots, removed her boots, had trouble remembering the instructions, and lost her balance. Moomey administered the one-leg-stand test for each leg-Reynolds could not maintain balance and put her foot down several times. Moomey administered the finger-to-nose test-Reynolds did not follow instructions properly and she double-tapped once.
{¶ 14} Based on the totality of the circumstances, Moomey determined that Reynolds was impaired by a CNS depressant. She explained that this is a large category of medication or drugs that depress one's central nervous system. She did not believe that any medical or mental ailment caused Reynolds's impairment. She "saw the presence of CNS depressant, so [she] call[ed] it a CNS depressant." Moomey entered Reynolds's medications into www.drugs.com and looked for interactions. She said six of Reynolds's medications "had a major drug interaction," while others had "a moderate interaction."
{¶ 15} Moomey described that after the evaluation, she went through each medication and made herself familiar because "[t]here are so many different medications out there, that [she's] not familiar with every single one of them or what they do." She testified that oxycodone and Zoloft "counteract with each other and can cause some pretty severe side effects," which she described in her report. She then summarized what she learned about some of the different medications Reynolds is prescribed:
{¶ 16} Moomey emphasized that Reynolds was drowsy despite the three energy drinks she consumed, but she was also fidgety. She believed this was because "there was still a lot bringing her down." She said that the combination of a CNS...
To continue reading
Request your trial