What are some of the reasons a defendant might prefer a plea deal over going to trial in an OVI case in Ohio?

Are you facing a DUI charge and wondering if you should accept a plea bargain? Hey, it's Steve Palmer from Lawyer Talk, and on our latest episode of DUI 360, we dig into whether you should go to trial or take a deal. I break down the options, like reducing your charge to reckless operation or physical control, and weigh the pros and cons, including impacts on insurance and driving privileges. With up to six months of jail time on the line for a DUI conviction in Ohio, a plea deal might just be the smarter option.

Key Takeaways:

Understand Your Options: Plea bargains can significantly impact the outcome of a DUI case. In Ohio, options might include reducing charges to "reckless operation" or "physical control," each with distinct consequences.

Weigh the Consequences: Accepting a plea bargain can mitigate harsher penalties. For instance, a charge of physical control doesn’t carry traffic points and isn't treated as a second offense if another DUI occurs.

Consult a Legal Expert: The decision to accept a plea bargain isn't straightforward. Each case is unique, and speaking with a knowledgeable attorney can help navigate these crucial decisions.

Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.

Recorded at Channel 511.

Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.

Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.

He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.

Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.

For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense.

Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law

Alright. Back here. Steve Palmer. DUI 360. This is the LawyerTalkpodcast.com DUI 360 series. The idea here is to talk about all things DUI from a 360 degree approach, meaning, not all DUIs are the same, although the law sort of has the same law. How it applies to people in theory is the same, but how it impacts people is different. And this is a topic that frankly came up yesterday in my regular practice at Palmer Legal Defense here in Ohio.

I had a client who was kicking around whether he should entertain or accept a plea bargain in a DUI case. So we're gonna talk a little bit today about plea bargains in DUI cases. And the option my client had was either go to trial on the charge of DUI. In Ohio, we call that OVI, but driving under the influence of alcohol, or take a deal. And the deal that was offered was a he had a choice, either a reckless operation of a motor vehicle. Or in Ohio, we have something called, being in physical control of a motor vehicle, while under the influence of alcohol. That second charge, in Ohio was designed to deal with the situation where a guy or gal is sleeping it off on the side of the road. And in Ohio, there used to be all this barstool lore about put your keys outside or put your keys on the roof or do whatever because then you're not in actual operation of a motor vehicle.

But, so Ohio has just created an an offense for that. And it turns out in Ohio, that offense, physical control, is in no point, meaning no traffic points. It's a nonmoving violation. So it doesn't have nearly the impact of an OVI, although it's wet, meaning it's alcohol related, in in in by definition. However, it is not a charge physical control. It's not a charge that is enhanceable. That means if you get another DUI or OVI in Ohio, it's not automatically and legally speaking treated like a second offense with enhanced penalties. So my client was entertaining either reckless op or physical control.

In the old days, we used to always use reckless op because we didn't have physical control, and I imagine many jurisdictions are still that way. And in Ohio, we, I always use the vernacular wet reckless, meaning it's it's an alcohol related reckless op. And and for the record, anybody, who looks at this, whether it's an insurance company, a police officer, or even if you had to disclose it to your employer and they looked up your traffic record, will see that if you plead to a reckless or you plead to a physical control, it started as a DUI. So there's no secret that this was a DUI. Don't think you're gonna fool anybody. Now that doesn't mean insurance companies might treat it differently if you didn't get the conviction. It doesn't mean your employer might treat it differently if you didn't get the conviction. In fact, I think in another DUI 360 series, we talked a little bit about, some of the sometimes when OVIs or DUIs impact your job.

And and one of the main concerns that we had that we run into is something called fleet insurance. So if you're driving or your your boss or your company gives you a car to drive and they insure it, their insurance coverage may not actually it might get canceled if somebody's got a DUI who's driving one of the fleet cars. So, the a reduction certainly may benefit that, and it might be enough to avoid the fleet insurance problem. So when do you take a deal? Well, the old saying that I have is, you know, you always take the reduction on a DUI or an OVI because why not? If you go to trial on OVI in Ohio, the maximum punishment is 6 months in jail, $1,000 fine. Minimum punishment is 3 days in jail or 3 days in a in a alcohol intervention program typically conducted at a hotel, drunk school, or whatever you wanna call it. And then you have a license suspension. Typically in Ohio, it's a year, and you get driving privileges. Some courts, though, once they hear the evidence, will maybe enhance that a little bit.

If you get convicted at a trial on an OVI, maybe you get 6 days in jail instead of 3, and the judges would never say that it's because you forced the state to go to trial. They would say, well, now that I've heard the evidence, now that I've, seen the videos and listened to the officers, then it's a little bit more serious than the average run of the mill OVI. And they give you a little bit of a taste for going to trial and learning more about the evidence. So there might be an additional consequence to go into trial. The other thing to note, we talked in another DUI 360 about different types of license suspensions. And in Ohio, particularly, we have an administrative suspension that even if you win the OVI trial, you could still be stuck with a driver's right suspension, the ALS or administrative license suspension for either taking the test and registering result above the legal limit or refusing the test. So there's some extra added consequences that sort of reduce in the margins the value of actually winning a trial. Although, I will confess I'm a trial lawyer.

There is nothing better than walking out with that fabled not guilty verdict. I love it. It's what we live for. But on the other hand, it may not be right for everybody, and it's really difficult to turn down a deal. It's really difficult to turn down the reckless op and being able to walk out without the conviction and sort of, getting halfway home to a full win. Because, typically, we start negotiating other things too, like a license suspension. For instance, yesterday in my case, my client was able to, get or we were able with our client to negotiate the case to a reduction, and we chose physical control. And we had the option.

That's not always the case, but we had an option from the prosecutor. And we were also able to negotiate a 6 month license suspension as opposed to a year. So there was actually an added benefit to not going to trial, that sort of tipped the scales. Now back to the real question, which is do you take the physical control or do you take the reckless op? And here's how I assessed it yesterday, and this may be, mostly for the Ohio folks. But I look at it this way. First of all, insurance companies hate reckless op. If you just get a reckless op unrelated to OVI, insurance companies hate it. And in fact, if you're driving recklessly and and get in a crash, they may not even cover you, because most policies will have some provision excluding reckless driving.

Or even if they do cover it, expect a cancellation letter. Now that doesn't always happen when it's reduced from an OVI, but it could. So I I looked at it like, alright. It's and and by the way, it's always alcohol related as we started with. It started as an OVI. Your insurance company is gonna know that. Your boss is gonna know that. Your employer is gonna know it.

The cop who pulls you over next time is gonna know it. So it's always OVI. But when you take the reckless op option, you have added into what would have otherwise just been an alcohol related offense, reckless driving. Now you did it maybe for good reason, and maybe it's somewhat of a legal fiction just to get the deal. But it says reckless now. And if you take the physical control, it's still alcohol related, but it doesn't add to reckless element. And that was enough in our case to convince my client that that was the right way to go. So, you know, and I guess the other ultimate question is should you take the deal in the first place? That is why we do these DUI 3 sixties.

It it all depends on your station in in the world, whether, even a sometimes even a reduction is impossible for somebody to keep their job, so you don't really have a choice. Or maybe our defense is so strong that I would say, look, prosecutor, don't give me any nonsense here. You know you can't prove the case because there's a problem, and we would want something even better than a reckless op or a physical control. And that happens. It it it happens somewhat regularly, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. But sometimes people are they have commercial licenses, or, they drive for a living and just can't tolerate another conviction, or maybe it's their 2nd or 3rd. So the outcome, is the plea. You're worried about the judge doing something more than just minimum penalties.

You know, there's all sorts of stuff that goes into it. That's why you need a good lawyer to actually sit down with you, talk you through these issues. And and, honestly, we spent about 30 minutes with our client, just at court, and we had talked in advance about this as well, trying to make this decision. It's it's not easy, and it's one of those things that that's why you get a lawyer to help you through these problems because we've dealt with it, and we understand it, and we can help you at least identify the issues and the pros and cons. And as I often say, we're not choosing, no option is great. We're choosing between the, the the crappy option or the crappier option sometimes. And, you know, I'll take crappy over crappier every single time. Anyway, that's DUI 360lawyertalkpodcast.com.

If you've got a question, by the way, or you like our content, check us out at lawyertalkpodcast.com. You can send us a note. You want me to cover a topic? I'll do it. Lots of stuff going on with the, They Don't Teach You That in Law School series. We've got some breakdowns. We've got some guests that are scheduled to come in. So check us out on all the socials. Check us on our website.

Like, share. This is Lawyer Talk Podcast. At least, until next time, we are coming at you week in and week out.