City of Cleveland v. Kufrin

446 N.E.2d 230, 3 Ohio Misc. 2d 18, 3 Ohio B. 553, 1982 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 116
CourtCity of Cleveland Municipal Court
DecidedNovember 4, 1982
DocketNos. 82 CRB 15508 A and B
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 446 N.E.2d 230 (City of Cleveland v. Kufrin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering City of Cleveland Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Cleveland v. Kufrin, 446 N.E.2d 230, 3 Ohio Misc. 2d 18, 3 Ohio B. 553, 1982 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 116 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1982).

Opinion

Adrine, J.

The defendant has moved the court to dismiss the complaints against him. The defendant is charged with two offenses. The first charges him with criminal trespass in a motor vehicle in violation of Cleveland Codified Ordinance Section 625.07. The second charges him with a violation of Section 615.08(a), to wit, resisting arrest.

In support of his motion, the defendant argues that he has previously been convicted for the offense of petty theft, emanating from this same transaction. It is his contention that the petty theft and the auto trespass are “allied offenses of similar import,” as contemplated by R.C. 2941.25. As such, he argues, his conviction of the petty theft serves as a bar to a conviction for criminal trespass. The defendant also argues that since the complainant, a publicly commissioned private security officer, does not belong to the class of individuals specifically empowered to make warrantless misdemeanor arrests, under R.C. 2935.03, his arrest of the defendant for resisting arrest was illegal and exceeded his statutory authority.

The prosecution for its part contends that, with regard to the first issue raised, the defendant possessed a separate animus for the commission of the auto trespass and for the petty theft and therefore could be convicted of both. Concerning the defendant’s second issue, the prosecutor maintains that state and local law empower a special police officer to arrest for a misdemeanor violation without a warrant.

The facts appear to be relatively simple and undisputed. According to the recitation in the brief supporting defendant’s motion, they are as follows:

“On July 4, 1982, Defendant John Kufrin reached through the open window of a car parked on a public street and removed from the dashboard of the vehicle a signal flasher. Daniel C. Molnar, a private security officer, observed the theft and chased and caught John Kufrin.”

The defendant was subsequently charged with three offenses: petty theft, auto trespass and resisting arrest. At some point the petty theft charge was bifurcated from the remaining two and the defendant was found guilty and sentenced on that charge.

Issue 1

Allied Offenses

Defendant’s argument on his first issue is based on his interpretation of R.C. 2941.25(A), which reads:

“Where the same conduct by defendant can be construed to constitute two or more allied offenses of similar import, the indictment or information may contain counts for all such offenses, but the defendant may be convicted of only one.”

The Ohio Supreme Court reviewed this issue in its decision in State v. Roberts (1980), 62 Ohio St. 2d 170 [16 O.O.3d 201]. The defendant in Roberts was charged with, convicted of, and sentenced on two counts of an indictment which charged him with both possessing and selling a narcotic substance. The Supreme Court reversed, finding that the two violations were “allied offenses of similar import.” In so doing, the court referred to one of its earlier pronouncements on the subject:

“In State v. Donald (1979), 57 Ohio St. 2d 73 [11 O.O.3d 242], 386 N.E. 2d 1341, this court addressed the question of whether the offense of rape, * * * and the crime of kidnapping, * * * could be ‘allied offenses of similar import’ within the contemplation of R.C. 2941.25(A). In answer[20]*20ing that query in the affirmative, this court reasoned, at page 75, that ‘R.C. 2941.25(A) “* * * prohibits duplication where both crimes are motivated by a single purpose and where both convictions rely upon identical conduct and the same evidence.” ’ ” State v. Roberts, supra, at 173.

Further explanation of the Supreme Court’s position on this matter can be found in State v. Logan (1979), 60 Ohio St. 2d 126, at pages 128-129 [14 O.O.3d 373]. There, the court said:

“* * * [T]here must be a recognized similarity between the elements of the crimes committed.” Id. at 128.

Later, in the same opinion at page 131, the court went on to say:

“Where an individual’s motive involves the commission of one offense, but in the course of committing that crime he must, a priori, commit another, then he may well possess but a single animus, and in that event may be convicted of only one crime.”

Applying the tests employed in Roberts, Donald and Logan, supra, to the facts in the case at bar, it appears that the defendant had “but a single animus” when he reached into the open window of a stranger’s automobile, and that was to remove the flasher. R.C. 2941.25(A) would seem to ban the defendant’s conviction for violation of Section 625.07 because of his earlier conviction for a violation of Section 625.05 which arose out of the same factual transaction.

This determination does not, however, require that the court dismiss the criminal trespass charge. As the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County stated in State v. Kent (1980), 68 Ohio App. 2d 151, at page 154 [22 O.O.3d 223]:

“The allied offense statute does not mean that persons cannot be either indicted, tried or found guilty of multiple offenses, even when they are classified as allied offenses. See State v. Osborne (1976), 49 Ohio St. 2d 135, 144 [3 O.O.3d 79], vacated on other grounds (1978), 438 U.S. 911 * * *.
“The allied offense statute merely provides that where allied offenses are present, the person can only be convicted of one of the offenses. Conviction in this context means a judgment of conviction.
“A judgment of conviction has been defined as a plea or verdict of guilty and the sentence imposed. Crim. R. 32(B); State v. Henderson (1979), 58 Ohio St. 2d 171 [12 O.O.3d 177]. Thus the sentence imposed completes the judgment of conviction. When we speak of the allied offense doctrine, we are speaking of offenses for which an individual may be sentenced. In reality, the allied offense statute is a sentencing vehicle.”

The Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County has spoken most recently on this topic in State v. Moralevitz (1980), 70 Ohio App. 2d 20 [24 O.O.3d 16]:

“The allied offense doctrine merely prohibits conviction of allied offenses, not the submission of the offenses to the jury.” State v. Moralevitz, supra, at 23.

Further on in that opinion the trial court’s role is more fully explained:

“Based upon these authorities, the determination of an allied offense question is a two-step process. The first step is a statutory analysis whereby the elements of the applicable statutes are reviewed and a determination made as to whether the offenses are allied offenses of similar import. * * * If the offenses are found to be allied offenses of similar import, then the second step of the inquiry must be undertaken and this constitutes a review of the evidence and a determination made as to whether the offenses were committed separately or with a separate animus as to each.” Id. at 25-26.

Clearly, such a process envisions the trial court hearing some evidence before deciding the issue in any given case. That has not happened in the case at bar.

Issue 2

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Related

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Bluebook (online)
446 N.E.2d 230, 3 Ohio Misc. 2d 18, 3 Ohio B. 553, 1982 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-cleveland-v-kufrin-ohmunictclevela-1982.