State v. Guyton, 74 N.E.3d 939

Defendant Edwin M. Guyton was indicted on two counts of felony OVI with repeat-offender and specification allegations based on multiple prior convictions.
On June 16, 2015, Circle K employee Allyson Heinz called 911 twice after observing Guyton apparently intoxicated at the gas pumps; recordings of both 911 calls were played at trial.
Heinz testified she witnessed Guyton operate the vehicle, described his intoxication, assisted him with pumping gas, and remained on the phone with the dispatcher while interacting with him.
Patrolman Dan Gillespie arrived, observed Guyton with the car idling and keys in the ignition, noted strong odor of alcohol and coordination/speech impairments, arrested Guyton, who refused field sobriety tests; blood was later drawn.
Laboratory testing produced a whole blood ethanol result of 0.283 g/100 mL; a retrograde extrapolation placed his BAC at 3:01 a.m. well above legal limits.
A jury convicted Guyton on both OVI counts; the trial court merged counts, imposed an aggregate eight-year prison sentence plus fines, license suspension, and ordered treatment. Guyton appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admission of 911 recordings (plain error)	Recordings were admissible; played during witness testimony and consistent with her testimony	Recordings were not authenticated, lacked chain of custody, were hearsay and improperly bolstered Heinz’s testimony	No plain error: witness testimony and recording contents were consistent; present-sense impression/excited-utterance doctrines and Evid.R. 901(B)(5) supported admission
Ineffective assistance for failure to object to 911 recordings	Counsel reasonably could have objected but outcome unaffected	Failure to object deprived Guyton of effective assistance and prejudiced the verdict	No ineffective assistance: any objection likely overruled; substantial independent evidence of guilt (Heinz and officer testimony, high BAC) meant no reasonable probability of a different outcome

State v. Childs, 14 Ohio St.2d 56 (general waiver rule for failure to object)
State v. Lang, 129 Ohio St.3d 512 (failure to object waives all but plain error)
State v. Barnes, 94 Ohio St.3d 21 (plain-error test requirements)
State v. Long, 53 Ohio St.2d 91 (plain-error notice limited to exceptional circumstances)
State v. Drummond, 111 Ohio St.3d 14 (failure to authenticate 911 recording not plain error in context)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance standard)
State v. Richey, 64 Ohio St.3d 353 (chain-of-custody/contamination affects weight not admissibility)