Substantial v. Strict Compliance

Recently, in response to the outcry from law enforcement resulting from the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Homan, O.R.C. 4511.19(D)(4)(b) was enacted lowering the standard for the admission of field sobriety tests from strict compliance to substantial compliance. Just as the terms imply, “strict” compliance is a much higher standard that “substantial” compliance.

In the Homan case, the Ohio Supreme Court mandated that Ohio law enforcement officers must strictly comply with the standards set forth by the NHTSA standards for the administration of field sobriety tests (FSTs). Due to lobbying by many law enforcement agencies and other anti-DUI advocates, the legislature passed the above-cited statute lowering the standard to substantial compliance.

But, what is the difference between the two? In State v. McNamara, 124 Ohio App. 3d 706 the Ohio Supreme Court stated the appellate court must ... independently determine, without deference to the conclusion of the trial court, whether the facts satisfy the applicable legal standard.” In other words, the determination of whether the officer “substantially” complied with the NHTSA manual should be determined on a case by case basis. Since the statute is relatively new, the jurisprudence interpreting this standard, thus far, is scarce.

An example of this type of analysis is set forth in the recent case of State v. Davis. The case was the typical case wherein the Defendant was charged with DUI after the arresting officer had administered FSTs in the filed, determined that there was probable cause to arrest the Defendant, and the Defendant was ultimately charged with DUI. The Defendant filed his Motion to Suppress claiming the officer failed to substantially comply with the edicts of the NHTSA manual. The lower court determined the officer substantially complied with the NHTSA manual and overruled the motion.

The appellate court sustained the finding of the lower court after independently analyzing the evidence presented in the lower court. The court, in its analysis, stated that if strict compliance was still the standard, it may have determined the case differently, but, since the standard is the lower standard it determined, in this case only, that the substantial compliance standard was met.