In Ohio, the answer is, yes, sort of.
Sometimes the officer will give you the citation for drunk driving without signing it. In issuing a properly completed traffic citation, Traf.R. 3(E) provides that the law enforcement officer “shall complete and sign the ticket, serve a copy of the completed ticket upon defendant, and, without unnecessary delay, file the court copy with the court.” While the officer’s signature need not be sworn, a signature is required.[1]
Your attorney can move that the case against you be dismissed for the failure to sign the ticket, and the judge will likely dismiss the case at the arraignment. But the police will likely re-issue the citation, re-serve you with it, and you will have to show up in court again to defend against those charges.
But this can still work to the advantage of the defendant. When you are arrested for drunk driving, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles automatically administratively suspends your license for three months (or a year if you refused to take the test back at the station). The way that they can get away with this guilty until proven innocent tactic is that the law requires that the driver be given a hearing on the ALS (Administrative License Suspension) within 5 days. If the charges are dismissed and you have to be re-served, the chances that law enforcement will be able to do this within five days is near zero. So you will likely not have to worry about the ALS during the period that charges are pending against you.
[1] State v. Wilson (1995), 102 Ohio App.3d 1; Cleveland v. Austin (1978), 55 Ohio App.2d 215; City of Cleveland v. Castelli, 1996 Ohio App. LEXIS 5192 (November 21, 1996) Cuyahoga Co. App. No. 70540, unreported.
