Wooster, OH asked in Criminal Law, DUI / DWI, Civil Litigation and Civil Rights for Ohio

Q: If you're indicted on a felony 4 ovi, and you don't have enough ovis to have that indictment. What happens to your case?

Its actually 2 in ten years and 3 in 20 years is what the person has. The court is trying to drop it to an unclassified misdemeanor 1 and I don't see how that is even possible considering the indictment was signed by a grand jury for the Felony 4 ovi. You can't just change something because you messed up. The person has been in jail nearly 30 days already and the judge will not let him go on any bond even though he is now aware that the prosecutors office messed up on the indictment. What can be done legally?? I feel this persons civil rights are being violated.

1 Lawyer Answer
Matthew Williams
Matthew Williams
Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Cleveland, OH
  • Licensed in Ohio

A: They can and do amend charges all the time. It seems like an odd mistake to make owing to how simple it is to count years and convictions, but the mistake was made and so it has to be corrected. There's no violation of civil rights. The defendant gets a huge benefit here, why would he not want the indictment amended?

Dimitrios Makridis agrees with this answer

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