Cleveland v. Kushlak

2024 Ohio 973
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 14, 2024
Docket112445
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2024 Ohio 973 (Cleveland v. Kushlak) 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
Cleveland v. Kushlak, 2024 Ohio 973 (Ohio Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

[Cite as Cleveland v. Kushlak, 2024-Ohio-973.]

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

CITY OF CLEVELAND, :

Plaintiff-Appellee, : No. 112445 v. :

ANTHONY KUSHLAK, :

Defendant-Appellant. :

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED IN PART, MODIFIED IN PART, AND REMANDED RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: March 14, 2024

Criminal Appeal from the Cleveland Municipal Court Housing Division Case No. 2020-CRB-007383

Appearances:

Mark Griffin, Cleveland Director of Law, and William H. Armstrong, Jr., Assistant Director of Law, for appellee.

Michaela Huth, for appellant.

MARY EILEEN KILBANE, J.:

Defendant-appellant Anthony Kushlak (“Kushlak”) appeals the

municipal court’s February 10, 2023 judgment entry. For the following reasons, we affirm in part, modify in part, and remand for proceedings consistent with this

opinion.

Factual and Procedural History

On July 21, 2020, the city of Cleveland (“city”) filed a five-count

complaint in Cleveland M.C. No. 2020-CRB-007383, alleging that Kushlak violated

Cleveland Codified Ordinances (“C.C.O.”) 203.03 when he failed to comply with the

Cleveland Department of Public Health’s order to clean the trash littering the

ground and exterior of Kushlak’s house; maintain sufficient trash receptacles; and

abate conditions that attract rodents and other vermin to the property.1

On May 10, 2021, Kushlak pleaded no contest to the charges, and the

municipal court found him guilty of all five counts. On June 28, 2021, the municipal

court identified the matter as a “hoarding case” and sentenced Kushlak to three

years of community-control sanctions on Count 1 and imposed conditions of

community control. See Judgment Entry, July 8, 2021 (“July 8, 2021 judgment

entry”). The July 8, 2021 judgment entry stated the terms of community control

would expire on June 28, 2024.

On July 13, 2021, the city filed an unopposed motion requesting

modification and clarification of the July 8, 2021 judgment entry. The city argued

that the July 8, 2021 judgment entry erroneously stated — in violation of the relevant

sentencing ordinance — that Kushlak’s violation of Count 1 was a first-degree

1 The city filed four additional cases — Cleveland M.C. Nos. 2020-CRB-013409,

2020-CRB-13846, 2021-CRB-003173, and 2021-CRB-003172 — but subsequently dismissed those cases. misdemeanor subject to a three-year community-control sanction and several of the

conditions were improper. On July 20, 2021, the municipal court granted the city’s

motion and an amended judgment entry was journalized on July 22, 2021 (“July 22,

2021 sentencing judgment entry” or “original sentencing judgment entry”),

identifying Kushlak’s offense on Count 1 as a minor misdemeanor; imposing a three-

year community-control sanction on Count 2; and modifying the community-

control conditions.2 The July 22, 2021 sentencing judgment entry included an

expiration date for community control of June 28, 2024, and stated the following

conditions:

(a) On or before Thursday, July 1, 2021, [Kushlak] must remove the trash from the driveway, place the trash in the trash bins[,] and move the trash bins onto the front lawn to be picked up by the City of Cleveland.

(b) [Kushlak] must permit Department of Public Health Inspector and Department of Building and Housing Inspector access to the property so that they can conduct an inspection of the property * * * on or before August 6, 2021.

(c) [Kushlak] is ordered to get things in order and clean up the property so that it is ready for the inspection on August 6, 2021.

(d) The Cleveland Animal Protective League inspection of the property should be conducted after the Department of Building and Housing Inspector has conducted an interior inspection of the property.

(e) [Kushlak] must coordinate with Community Work Service to clean the property[,] including the garage[,] of all junk and debris on or before August 30, 2021.

2 The municipal court’s subsequent November 8, 2021 nunc pro tunc judgment entry however, reflects that Kushlak was sentenced to community-control sanctions on Counts 2, 3, 4, and 5. (f) [Kushlak] must continue to coordinate and cooperate with the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging.

(g) The Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging is required to provide the Court with a report on [Kushlak’s] progress at the next hearing on September 16, 2021[,] at 3:00 p.m.

(h) [Kushlak] must appear in court for the next hearing on September 16, 2021[,] at 3:00 p.m.

July 22, 2021 sentencing judgment entry.

On September 20, 2021, and October 25, 2021, the municipal court

conducted status hearings and issued corresponding judgment entries. The

September 25, 2021 and October 27, 2021 judgment entries stated Kushlak’s terms

of community control would expire on May 17, 2023.3 The municipal court’s

November 5, 2021 judgment entry, and all subsequent judgment entries, indicated

Kushlak’s community control would expire on June 28, 2024. The judgment entries

do not indicate the reasoning for the changes in the termination date. The municipal

court conducted additional status hearings on December 13, 2021, January 10,

2022, January 24, 2022, and February 6, 2022.

On February 9, 2022, Kushlak appealed the municipal court’s

January 20, 2022 judgment entry in Cleveland v. Kushlak, 2022-Ohio-4402, 203

N.E.3d 160 (8th Dist.) (“Kushlak I”). This court remanded the matter and instructed

the municipal court to (1) issue a nunc pro tunc order on the November 8, 2021 nunc

3 The record includes a handwritten cover sheet for each judgment entry. On the handwritten form related to the October 27, 2021 judgment entry, the expiration date for community control term is “whited out” and reflects an expiration date of June 28, 2024. Yet, the October 27, 2021 journalized judgment entry indicates the community control term expires on May 17, 2023. pro tunc judgment entry, (2) invalidate the January 20, 2022 judgment entry, and

(3) conduct a hearing on the status of the conditions of community-control sanctions

imposed against Kushlak.

On January 10, 2023, following the release of this court’s opinion in

Kushlak I, the housing court held a status hearing and issued the mandated nunc

pro tunc judgment entry. Present at the hearing were Kushlak via Zoom; counsel

for both Kushlak and the city; Ed Tytko (“Tytko”), the senior initiative coordinator

of the city of Cleveland; Inspector Mancuso (“Mancuso”) of the Department of

Health; Inspector Shockley (“Shockley”) of the Department of Building and

Housing; and compliance specialist Carl Kannenberg (“Kannenberg”). The court

and parties agreed that according to Kushlak I the purpose of the hearing was to

address the status of Kushlak’s conditions of community control rather than

Kushlak’s compliance with those conditions. Those present discussed which

judgment entry identified the pending conditions of community control since the

January 20, 2022 judgment entry — the previously controlling judgment entry —

was vacated by Kushlak I.

According to the municipal court’s statements, the controlling

community-control conditions were those referenced in the July 22, 2021

sentencing judgment entry. We note that the July 22, 2021 sentencing judgment

entry was corrected first by the November 8, 2021 nunc pro tunc judgment entry

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Bluebook (online)
2024 Ohio 973, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-v-kushlak-ohioctapp-2024.