Carsey v. City of Mansfield

310 N.E.2d 263, 37 Ohio App. 2d 141, 66 Ohio Op. 2d 361, 1973 Ohio App. LEXIS 811
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 3, 1973
Docket1204
StatusPublished

This text of 310 N.E.2d 263 (Carsey v. City of Mansfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carsey v. City of Mansfield, 310 N.E.2d 263, 37 Ohio App. 2d 141, 66 Ohio Op. 2d 361, 1973 Ohio App. LEXIS 811 (Ohio Ct. App. 1973).

Opinions

Putman, J.

James Carsey complains that he was convicted in 1972 of violating a 1954 city of Mansfield zoning ordinance which had been repealed by a 1971 Mansfield zoning ordinance.

In an earlier prosecution for the violation of the 1971 ordinance, he won an acquittal by persuading the same municipal judge that the 1971 ordinance had never been legally enacted.

We hold that an objection to the validity of an ordinance upon which a prosecution is based is waived unless it is made by a pre-trial motion to dismiss. This was not done in either case.

Thus, we affirm the conviction of the violation of the 1954 ordinance and point out that the acquittal of the *142 charge of violating the 1971 ordinance did not determine the question of the validity of either ordinance.

We also hold that double jeopardy is not involved because different days and different ordinances were alleged in each ease.

This is an appeal from a conviction in the Mansfield Municipal Court for the violation of the misdemeanor provisions of municipal zoning ordinance No. 54-388, enacted in 1954. We affirm it.

It represents the second attempt to prosecute the defendant, the appellant (hereafter referred to as Carsey), for the violation of a Mansfield municipal zoning ordinance.

Carsey moved a mobile home onto his property in Mansfield in January 1972. At that time the city filed an affidavit alleging that Carsey was violating its 1971 zoning ordinance No. 71-320 by “parking a mobile home on January 10, 1972,” on prohibited premises. That was not the case at bar.

The ordinance under which that affidavit was brought was a new zoning ordinance adopted December 7, 1971, which by its express terms repealed ordinance 54-388 together with all its supplements (the ordinance upon which the judgment now on appeal is based).

Carsey entered a plea of “not guilty” to the charge of violating ordinance 71-320 and that case went to trial on the merits on February 18, 1972. The municipal court rendered its opinion in that case on March 9, 1972, which found that the zoning ordinance passed in. December, 1971, was void because it was never legally enacted (for the reasons set forth in its opinion) and the defendant was found “not guilty” for that sole reason.

Subsequent thereto, on March 15, 1972, the city of Mansfield filed a second affidavit against Carsey alleging that he was in violation of zoning ordinance No. 54-388 passed in 1954, in that he had used the subject premises contrary to the ordinance on March 9, 1972, “by having thereon a mobile home (trailer).”

Carsey filed a written plea of former jeopardy pursuant to R. C. 2937.06, but no motion to dismiss under R. C. 2937.04, The municipal court on May 9, 1972, heard the evi *143 deuce with respect to former jeopardy and found that there was no former jeopardy. On June 8, 1972, the municipal court after hearing all the evidence on the merits found Carsey guilty of violating the 1954 ordinance, at which time he was fined $25 and costs with the fine and costs suspended upon the condition that no similar violation for a period of one year occur.

It is from this judgment and the decision of the court with respect to former jeopardy that is the basis of this appeal, upon questions of law.

There are two assignments of error, as follows:

1. The Mansfield Municipal Court erred to the prejudice of the defendant in overruling the defense of former jeopardy.
2. The decision of the Mansfield Municipal Court is contrary to law.
We overrule both assignments of error and affirm the conviction.
Section 10, Article I of the Ohio Constitution provides, in part, as follows:
“No person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.”

E. C. 2943.08 provides:

“Whenever a defendant is acquitted on the merits, he is acquitted of the same offense, notwithstanding any defect in form or substance in the indictment or information on which the trial was had. ’

Where there are two separate allegations of zoning law violations, each under a different ordinance and each on separate days, neither involves jeopardy of the other. Neither prosecution is barred by the acquittal of the other. They are not, in law or fact, the same offense.

The second assignment of error attacks the validity of zoning ordinance No. 54-388 and claims that it was repealed by ordinance 71-320. We hold this objection to be one which “could have been taken advantage of by motion pursuant to Section 2937.04 of the Eevised Code,” and was waived by the entry of either the plea of “once in jeopardy” or “not guilty.” See E. C. 2937.06.

Both pleas were entered here but no motion to dismiss *144 was made. Hence, the second assignment of error is not ^/ell taken and is overruled.

Because of the public interest in the question of zoning ordinances and because of the fact that a trial court has the power to enter a binding unappealable acquittal, in spite of a clear showing of guilt, some additional comment is warranted by this record.

In this appeal, we have been furnished a transcript of proceedings which includes a record of the evidence taken in the hearing of the case on appeal in which Carsey was convicted of violating ordinance 54-388.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed by stipulation that Mansfield zoning ordinance No. 71-320 would be admitted into evidence.

That ordinance (71-320) contains section 13.1, which reads in pertinent part as follows:

“Section 13.1 Repealer.
“Ordinance No. 54-388, adopted by the City of Mansfield and all supplements and amendments thereto, are hereby repealed * * * .”

The copy of the ordinance (71-320) recites that it was passed December 7, 1971, and became immediately effective.

The municipal judge then (apparently under the erroneous belief that it had evidentiary value) induced the parties to agree to a stipulation, as follows:

“The Court: Will the parties stipulate that March 9, 1972 the court did find it — 71-320 ’to be invalid and that the judgment has not been appealed?”

Apparently, the trial court held the erroneous view that an acquittal in a criminal case could be appealed by the prosecution and, also, the erroneous view that a judgment of acquittal in a municipal court of a zoning violation was binding upon the city or another court upon the issue of the validity of the zoning ordinance in another proceeding.

The municipal court reasoned that ordinance 54-388 passed in 1954 was still effective because he had previously declared void the provisions of ordinance 71-320 which repealed ordinance 54-388.

*145

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

City of Euclid v. Heaton
238 N.E.2d 790 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
310 N.E.2d 263, 37 Ohio App. 2d 141, 66 Ohio Op. 2d 361, 1973 Ohio App. LEXIS 811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carsey-v-city-of-mansfield-ohioctapp-1973.