Ohio Supreme Court Protects Names of DUI Offenders

The Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the Cincinnati Enquirer in which the newspaper sought the names of every person convicted of DUI in Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected a newspaper's effort to get the names of all Ohioans convicted of drunken driving.

 

The court, without comment, voted 7-0 Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The state contended that the identities were protected by state and federal privacy laws.

The lawsuit followed a newspaper analysis in which The Enquirer reported finding nearly 36,000 drivers with five or more drunken-driving convictions in Ohio.

But state officials declined to provide access to the names in a database of records dating to 1973.