Motion to suppress overruled

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A motion to suppress evidence has been overruled in Highland County Common Pleas Court and the results of a blood sample found to be admissible in the case of a Hillsboro man charged with four counts of vehicular assault and OVI.

The charges Charles Burns, 46, faces stem from an August 2015 crash. The March 2016 indictment levying the charges alleges that Burns was the cause of the crash and that “serious physical harm” was caused to the four victims of the crash. The indictment also charges Burns with being under the influence of alcohol and/or a drug of abuse at the time of the crash.

According to a motion to suppress evidence filed in May, the defense contended that Burns refused a blood sample when asked for consent for one at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but that a blood sample that was taken for medical treatment purposes. The motion states that law-required procedure was not adhered to when the sample was taken, analyzed, or stored.

However, after hearing testimony this week from the director of the medical center’s lab and the paramedic that drew the blood sample, judge Rocky Coss disagreed with the defense, citing in his entry that the blood sample was taken less than three hours after the reported crash, and that there was “no evidence” that the draw of the blood or subsequent handling of the sample, done by a state licensed laboratory showed the sample had been contaminated. He said in the entry that the blood results were admissible.

According to court records, Burns is scheduled to face a jury in August.

In another hearing this week, Clyde Napier III, 44, Hillsboro, was granted judicial release to the STAR residential treatment program.

Napier was sentenced last April to three years in prison on two counts of third-degree felony illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.

Burns’ defense questioned validity of blood collection

By Angela Shepherd

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