State v. Jordan, 2015 Ohio 4457

Wade Jordan was indicted in two Franklin C.P. cases arising from two traffic stops: counts for possession (cocaine, marijuana, heroin) and a felony fleeing charge after an alleged felony; he also pled guilty in municipal court to a misdemeanor failure-to-comply arising from the same stop as the fleeing charge.
Jordan moved to suppress evidence from the stops; the trial court denied suppression and Jordan entered no-contest pleas in the common pleas cases.
After pleading guilty in municipal court to failure to comply, Jordan sought dismissal of the common-pleas fleeing felony on double jeopardy grounds; the trial court initially dismissed the fleeing count.
The state moved for reconsideration before sentencing; the trial court reversed its dismissal, concluding the misdemeanor and felony arose from separate acts, and Jordan then pled no contest to the fleeing count.
The trial court sentenced Jordan to an aggregate near-five-year prison term and ordered a three-year driver's-license suspension to begin after release; Jordan appealed, arguing double jeopardy and that deferring the suspension was contrary to law.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether double jeopardy barred prosecution for fleeing after municipal conviction for failure to comply	State: offenses arise from separate acts and require different proof	Jordan: fleeing is a lesser-included or same offense as failure to comply, so successive prosecution is barred	Court: No double jeopardy — Blockburger permits successive prosecutions when separate acts and different elements exist; here refusal to turn off car and later driving away were separate conduct
Whether delaying driver's-license suspension until after prison is contrary to law	State: court has discretion; suspension can be deferred because it would be meaningless during incarceration	Jordan: statutory mandatory suspension must start immediately and cannot be deferred	Court: Not contrary to law — absent statutory prohibition, trial court may defer suspension until release as reasonable sentencing discretion

Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161 (1977) (double jeopardy bars successive prosecution when one offense is lesser-included of the other)
Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932) (test comparing statutory elements to determine whether offenses are the same for double jeopardy)
State v. Zima, 102 Ohio St.3d 61 (Ohio 2004) (adopts Blockburger in Ohio and discusses successive prosecutions for greater and lesser-included offenses)
State v. Tolbert, 60 Ohio St.3d 89 (Ohio 1991) (application of Blockburger and lesser-included offense principles)
Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784 (1969) (Double Jeopardy Clause applies to states via Fourteenth Amendment)
State v. Best, 42 Ohio St.2d 530 (Ohio) (Blockburger principle explained for Ohio prosecutions)