Justice Resnick charged with DUI (Ohio Supreme Court)

Betty's a RINO and Petro's OK but too "establishment" for me. Blackwell's not afraid to be his own man (which is why Bob "Shaft" Taft hates him).

Ken Blackwell. First Black Ohio Governor, then President!

She not only refused to take the test but it sounds to me like she was fleeing from an officer when she got in her car and drove six miles after the officer told her not to.

ROTFLOL Do you see that big "L" on her forehead??? LOLOL

Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.

ROTFLOL Do you see that big "L" on her forehead??? LOLOL

I noticed that - I was wondering if I was the only one...

It is called implied consent. When you apply for a license, which is a privilege granted by the state rather than a right, you consent to alcohol testing, whether breath testing or blood testing, if the traffic stop is reasonable. You also agree to the suspension of your license if you refuse a test.

So, the suspension is not a punishment for DUI, which she may well get, it is for failing to take the test.

thanks for that info. i knew that but had forgotten.. and i admit i had a knee-jerk reaction to this story. living in a very thinly populated ranching area and seeing the highway patrol numbers multiply insanely here in the last few years has me po'd. it's getting to feel (and look) like a police state. these cocky young guns stopping everyone and their mother... drug sniffing dogs in every other HP vehicle.... it's really getting alarming. not to mention all the new game wardens hired (also w/ guns) and this from two Republican Governors. the one in office right now won't get my vote again...

needed to explain my knee-jerk comment and vent a little..

..black robed tyrant thinks that the rules are only for the little people

Sounds a lot like the klintons.

Is there an impeachment procedure that the Ohio Senate can use?

Yes, but the RINO's running the Senate won't even think of trying it.

They make Congressional Republicans in DC look gutsy, principled, and conservative.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/browse

Resnick won’t face a charge of fleeing
‘Probable cause’ needed before detaining driver
Friday, February 04, 2005
Jon Craig
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Police did not have probable cause to detain Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick when they initially questioned her at a gas station Monday, so she will not be charged with fleeing or eluding, authorities said yesterday.

At a hearing on Monday, Resnick, 65, of Toledo, plans to change her plea to guilty of operating a motor vehicle under the influence and driving outside marked lines. She had pleaded not guilty to both misdemeanors through her attorney Tuesday.

After driving away from police who were questioning her at a gas station along I-75 in Bowling Green, Resnick was followed by State Highway Patrol troopers. They pulled her over about 8 miles down the road after they saw her vehicle weaving.

WBNS-TV (Channel 10) obtained a newly released police videotape yesterday of the encounter with Resnick at the gas station. It shows Bowling Green Police Patrolman Mark Hanson knocking on her car window for about 6 seconds before she responds.

"I need to talk to you," he tells her.

"I’m a Supreme Court justice," she says. "I’m Justice Alice Robie Resnick. I’m late. I’m OK."

Hanson remarks that Resnick’s eye is a little bloodshot.

"No, I’m fine, I’m fine," she says.

Resnick mentions that her 97-yearold mother-in-law has been in the hospital and that her husband is on dialysis. Asked whether she had been drinking, Resnick says, "No, I’m not intoxicated."

When Resnick is asked, "Can you let us do one test on you?" she declines. "I’m going to go. I’m going," she says before driving back onto I-75.

Spokesmen for the State Highway Patrol and Bowling Green Police Department said officers could not legally detain her at the time because they did not witness erratic driving until after Resnick drove away. They added that evidence of alcohol was not detected until officers pulled her over.

Sgt. Joseph Luebbers, a patrol spokesman, said multiple calls about Resnick’s driving were not enough to detain her.

"They had to observe a violation for it to be a lawful arrest," he said.

While some 911 callers described a gold Jeep matching Resnick’s state-owned Grand Cherokee, Luebbers said that when officers spotted Resnick’s vehicle at the gas station, "It was not a traffic stop. It was a contact. The initial conversation in a parking lot was also on private property. The vehicle was not moving. It was parked. They didn’t classify that as a vehicle pursuit."

At the first stop, Resnick said her weaving was because of talking on a cell phone. She declined to submit to an eye test. She was told she was not free to go, but "thanked us, rolled up her window and drove off," according to a police report.

Bowling Green Prosecutor Matt Reger decided not to file an additional charge yesterday.

"I understand it’s not what people want," Reger said. "Sometimes you make (judgment) calls that are not popular."

Reger said Resnick was never told she was under arrest and the officers never made a lawful order for her to stop. Like Leubbers, Reger pointed out the officers also did not detect any sign of alcohol at the gas station and had not witnessed her driving erratically.

When Resnick was ultimately field tested, about 4 p.m., "she was cooperative," Reger said.

Columbus lawyer Eric Yavitch called it "solid police work." Yavitch, of Yavitch & Palmer, represents hundreds of drunken-driving clients a year. He agreed that probable cause is needed to make an arrest but said only reasonable suspicion is necessary to justify a traffic stop.

"They weren’t even sure they had the right person," Yavitch said of the initial police contact with Resnick.

Yet Yavitch wondered if Resnick’s driving off could set a precedent.

"Others might say, ‘I just did what the judge did,’ " he said.

Dispatch readers and some defense attorneys are asking whether Resnick was held to a different standard.

In one Internet conversation, a lawyer joked that his clients would have been shot at for fleeing.

Luebbers said a trooper followed protocol by radioing his supervisor while following Resnick onto I-75 after she drove off without her license and registration.

"When they get violations on camera, that’s different," he said. "After she left, they videotaped her driving. At that point, they did have probable cause."

Motorists don’t drive off frequently, "but it happens enough," Luebbers said, citing two motor vehicle pursuits Wednesday night, in West Jefferson and Delaware.

While Resnick registered 0.216 percent on a portable Alco-Sensor breath test — more than twice Ohio’s limit of 0.08 — the result is not admissible in court. She failed field sobriety tests but refused a Breathalyzer test of her blood-alcohol content, which can be used as evidence.

That refusal led to an automatic one-year suspension of her driver’s license and threeyear ban on driving a state vehicle.

Resnick issued a statement expressing regret over the arrest Wednesday, and said it followed 22 years of sobriety.