Davis v. Johnson

424 F. Supp. 168, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15465
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedApril 22, 1976
DocketCiv. A. No. C-2-76-159
StatusPublished

This text of 424 F. Supp. 168 (Davis v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. Johnson, 424 F. Supp. 168, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15465 (S.D. Ohio 1976).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

DUNCAN, District Judge.

Petitioner Walter Davis, having been convicted in the Municipal Court of Franklin County, Ohio, of violating the criminal trespass ordinance of Columbus, Ohio, and having exhausted his state appeals, seeks a determination from this Court adjudging the ordinance to be unconstitutionally vague or overbroad. Respondent moves to dismiss the petition.

In denying Davis’ direct appeal from his conviction, the Court of Appeals of Franklin County rendered an opinion in which the evidence adduced in the trial court was summarized as follows:

In the record, we find there is testimony in the transcript of proceedings by Steve Mosel, manager of the Columbus Greyhound Food Management, that since he was employed there eight months previously, he had seen defendant nearly every day in the bus terminal selling rings, blocking entrance to the bar, approaching people coming in and out, and in the game room; that he had never seen defendant eating in the restaurant, or buying a ticket; that he, Mosel, was authorized by the management to serve notice on individuals with respect to whether they could stay on the premises; that in the afternoon of September 26, 1974, he saw defendant in the Greyhound premises; that he told defendant to please leave the terminal; that defendant did not leave the premises during his shift, which ended at 11:00 p. m. .
Thomas Stroud, Columbus police officer and security officer for the Greyhound Bus Station, testified that he had been assigned to the area of the bus station since March 1972; that on September 24, 1974, after a conversation with Mr. Mosel, he saw defendant in the bus station; that in response to questions by Stroud the defendant stated that he had no bus ticket and that he had no business in the bus station; that he, Stroud, told defendant that he had been warned before and, that, if he saw the defendant in the bus station again he would be arrested for criminal trespass; that in the evening of September 26, he saw defendant in the restroom of the bus station engaged in an argument with an elderly man, accusing the elderly man of following him around; that when he asked defendant if he had a bus ticket, defendant replied, “No,” whereupon, the officer said, “Come with me,” and the defendant ran and departed from the bus station, whereupon the officer subsequently filed a warrant for defendant, upon which the defendant was later arrested, upon which these charges were brought.
Defendant testified that both Mr. Mo-sel and Officer Stroud had told him to leave the premises and that for the past year and a half he had been going in and out of the bus station selling rings, trinkets, and novelties “* * * maybe three days” a week.

See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).

The ordinance in question is § 2305.-04(A)(3) of the Ordinances of Columbus, [170]*170which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

No person, without privilege to do so, shall do any of the following:
(3) Recklessly enter or remain on the land or premises of another, as to which notice against unauthorized access or presence is given by actual communication to the offender, .

Mr. Davis argued in the state intermediate appellate court that the ordinance is “vague and sets no ascertainable standards,” that it is over-inclusive in defining who may give notice of unauthorized presence, that such notice had not in fact been given to Davis by a proper party, and that the statute does not sufficiently define what presence is unauthorized. In the course of rejecting these assignments of error, the appellate court placed a judicial gloss upon the ordinance. First, the court held that “implicit in the wording of the ordinance is the requirement that the actual communication to .the offender be given by the owner, or the owner’s authorized agent, of the land or premises in question.” Second, the court determined, rather tautologically, that the words “unauthorized presence” as used in the ordinance means that presence “to which notice has been given by actual communication by the owner, or the owner’s authorized agent, that privilege to access or presence is denied.” So construed, the ordinance reads in effect as follows:

No person, without privilege to do so, shall . . . [rjecklessly enter or remain on the land or premises of another, as to which notice has been given by actual communication by the owner, or the owner’s authorized agent, that access or presence is denied.

The Court does not find the ordinance to be impermissibly vague either as written or as later construed. “Privilege” is defined by § 2301.14(E) of the Ordinances as

an immunity, license, or right conferred by law, or bestowed by express or implied grant, or arising out of status, position, office, or relationship, or growing out of necessity.

To act “recklessly” is defined by § 2301.-06(C) as follows:

A person acts recklessly when, with heedless indifference to the consequences, he perversely disregards a known risk that his conduct is likely to cause a certain result or is likely to be of a certain nature.

An ordinance is unconstitutionally vague if it “fails to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden by the statute.” Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 162, 92 S.Ct. 839, 843, 31 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972). If the ordinance as enacted is read together with the definitions of “privilege” and “recklessness,” it does, in my opinion, place a reasonable man on notice that absent a specified privilege, continued presence on the premises of another after actual notice by persons such as Messrs. Mosel and Stroud will result in liability for criminal trespass. Petitioner insists that the ordinance does not adequately place one on notice as to what unauthorized presence is privileged. He states, “As a member of the public using quasi-public facilities to conduct a lawful business, Walter Davis should stand like any other person having privilege to be on the premises as a business invitee.” This argument ignores the fact that the evidence adduced at trial could reasonably indicate that Davis was present at the bus terminal for purposes of conducting his own business, not for purposes of conducting business with Greyhound. Nor does the definition of “privilege," fairly read, lend itself to an interpretation which would preclude an owner of business premises from invoking the protection of the ordinance simply because the trespasser originally entered the premises lawfully as a business invitee. The Court is convinced that the § 2305.04(A)(3) of the Ordinances of Columbus gives fair notice that failure to leave the premises of another after actual notice that one’s presence is unauthorized will result in criminal liability. This is not a case, like Smith v. Goguen, 415 [171]*171U.S. 566, 578, 94 S.Ct. 1242, 39 L.Ed.2d 605 (1974) and Coates v. City of Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611, 614, 91 S.Ct. 1686, 29 L.Ed.2d 214 (1971), in which a legislative enactment is so imprecise as to fail to specify the standard of conduct which is proscribed.

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Related

Alderman v. United States
394 U.S. 165 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Shapiro v. Thompson
394 U.S. 618 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Coates v. City of Cincinnati
402 U.S. 611 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville
405 U.S. 156 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Broadrick v. Oklahoma
413 U.S. 601 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Smith v. Goguen
415 U.S. 566 (Supreme Court, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
424 F. Supp. 168, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-johnson-ohsd-1976.