The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Edward Balmert, a Lorain man convicted of aggravated vehicular assault and DUI after a 2020 crash that injured an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper. The court’s review will focus on whether someone who uses legal hemp can be found guilty of DUI under Ohio law based only on THC levels in their system.
The crash happened in March 2020, during daylight hours, in a construction zone where several state troopers were directing traffic. One trooper was standing in the road wearing a reflective vest when Balmert’s vehicle struck her. He was driving between 10 and 15 miles per hour. The trooper suffered serious injuries and did not return to duty.
After the crash, officers gave Balmert several field sobriety tests and said he showed signs of being under the influence. Balmert told police he had smoked hemp earlier that day. A urine test showed 316 nanograms per milliliter of a marijuana metabolite. Under Ohio law, the legal limit is 35 nanograms per milliliter.
Hemp became legal in Ohio in 2019 when lawmakers passed Senate Bill 57. This followed changes in federal law made in the 2018 Farm Bill. Legal hemp is defined as cannabis that contains no more than 0.3% THC. This level is below what is known to cause psychoactive effects in most people. However, using hemp products can still result in positive THC test results.
Balmert was charged with four offenses: aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular assault, operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs, and operating a vehicle with a prohibited level of marijuana metabolite. He waived his right to a jury trial and chose a bench trial. The judge found him guilty of two charges: aggravated vehicular assault and operating a vehicle with a prohibited concentration of THC. He was found not guilty of the other two charges.
Balmert appealed the conviction. He argued that the state did not prove he was impaired or that his driving caused the crash. His defense stated that the THC came from legal hemp and that the presence of metabolites did not show impairment. He also challenged the legal basis for applying post-release control to his sentence.
The Ninth District Court of Appeals upheld the conviction. The court ruled that Ohio law allows DUI convictions when the legal limit for THC metabolites is exceeded, even if there is no separate proof of impairment. The court also found there was enough evidence to support that Balmert’s driving contributed to the trooper’s injuries.
The court did agree with Balmert on one point. It ruled that post-release control should not apply to his sentence because aggravated vehicular assault is not classified as a violent offense under Ohio law. That part of the sentence was removed and returned to the trial court for correction.
Balmert appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. The justices accepted the case and will consider whether a person can be convicted of DUI based only on a positive THC test after using legal hemp. The court has not yet announced a date for its ruling. The decision will address how Ohio’s current DUI laws apply to THC levels resulting from lawful hemp use.