Q: Charged with OVI Low Breaths - 4511.19(A)(1)(D) and was reduced to Reckless Operation - 4511.20(A). Can it be sealed?

A: Probably not. Ohio law generally does not permit the sealing of traffic records. R.C. 2953.36(A)(2).

There is one exception to this, which is a bit complicated, and arguably unfair. The exception is contained in R.C. 2953.61(B)(1), which says that where a person is charged with more than one offense and the final disposition of one, and only one, of those offenses is a traffic offense, which is not a state code OVI or physical control, or a municipal code substantially similar to a state code OVI or physical control, the record may be sealed, if any other convictions resulting from the same case are otherwise eligible if it were not for the traffic offense. So, for example, if you were speeding and had some pot and were convicted in the same case of both charges, the record could be sealed. Why do I say this is arguably unfair? Because it doesn't say if you are convicted of a single offense, which is a traffic offense which is not a state code OVI or physical control, or a municipal code substantially similar to a state code OVI or physical control, the record can be sealed. That makes no sense right? You mean I would have been better off if I had also committed another crime? Yep. That's what the legislatures says. Convicted of speeding? Not eligible for expungement. But, convicted of speeding and marijuana possession, eligible.

So, if you pursue this, you will run into two problems. (1) statutory ineligibility due to it being a traffic offense, even though the spirit of R.C. 2953.61(B)(1) would suggest eligibility, and (2) the prosecutor may argue that the "wet" reckless is substantially similar to an OVI or physical control offense. Much of that argument would depend upon the exact language of the code section to which you plead.