Today, December 18, 2025, the Ohio Supreme Court issued an important decision addressing aggravated vehicular assault cases based on marijuana metabolite OVI offenses. In State v. Balmert, the Court held that proximate cause is a separate, independent element that the State must prove beyond merely showing an over-the-limit marijuana metabolite violation.
The decision rejects a strict-liability approach while simultaneously giving prosecutors a roadmap to establish causation through expert testimony and surrounding circumstances. Because the case resulted in a conviction and mandatory prison term, there was a strong dissent warning that marijuana metabolite levels do not necessarily equate to impairment and criticized the majority for blurring that distinction—an issue with significant implications as Ohio’s marijuana laws continue to evolve.
This case is now a landmark authority in Ohio OVI, vehicular assault, and causation law, with direct impact on how metabolite-based prosecutions will be charged, defended, and tried statewide.
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