Obstructing Official Business Charge Reduced

Our client was suspected of dealing drugs in a rural Ohio county.  The sheriff’s office obtained a warrant to attach a GPS tracking unit to his vehicle.  Unbeknownst to our client, the sheriff’s office was tracking all of his travels.

The sheriff tracked our client to a known drug dealer’s home via GPS and waited for him to depart.  A short time after he left, they pulled him over for a minor traffic violation and confronted him about where he had been.  Not knowing law enforcement had a GPS on his vehicle and was watching him, he gave repeated inaccurate answers.  Frustrated, the officers charged him with Obstructing Official Business  when their search turned up no drugs.  Obstructing Official Business in Ohio is a 1^st degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail.

Attorneys with LHA entered a plea of not guilty and demanded a jury trial.  During pretrial negotiations, our team and the prosecution agreed that there may be substantial evidentiary problems with the case should the case proceed to jury trial.  Not wanting to test their luck at trial, the prosecution agreed to amend the obstructing official business charge to a minor misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge with a recommended sentence of a small fine.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case. Individual results may vary based on the facts, injuries, jurisdiction, venue, witnesses, parties, and other factors. The results and client testimonials provided are not necessarily representative of the results obtained by all clients or their satisfaction with the firm’s services.