In Re Howard

508 N.E.2d 190, 31 Ohio App. 3d 1, 31 Ohio B. 14, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 7481
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 18, 1987
DocketC-860266
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 508 N.E.2d 190 (In Re Howard) 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
In Re Howard, 508 N.E.2d 190, 31 Ohio App. 3d 1, 31 Ohio B. 14, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 7481 (Ohio Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Black, J.

Appellant Shawn Howard appeals from the finding of the Juvenile Division of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas that he is a “delinquent child” under R.C. 2151.02 (A) because he aided and abetted another juvenile in a robbery. He was committed to the temporary custody of Hillcrest School on the same day he was found delinquent.

Appellant presents four assignments of error, the first three of which are addressed to pretrial orders of the juvenile division: refusal to dismiss the complaint for failure to charge an offense; failure to suppress all evidence flowing from an unlawful arrest; and failure to suppress an impermissibly suggestive identification. The fourth assignment of error essentially attacks the judgment as being against the weight of the evidence. We find no merit *2 in any of the assignments of error and overrule all four.

In the first assignment of error, appellant contends that the complaint failed to state a charge against him under R.C. 2923.03 1 because the complaint did not set forth accurately the degree of culpability required by that statute. The body of the complaint reads as follows, with the key word underlined for emphasis:

“PO D. Luken D-l being first duly cautioned and sworn, deposes and alleges that (s)he has knowledge, information and belief that Shawn Howard, born 1/8/70, is a delinquent child, as provided in Section 2151.02 ORC, in that on or about 11/4/85 [at] 1500 [hours], in Hamilton County, State of Ohio, (s)he did knowingly aid Michael Brown to commit the offense of Robbery 2911-02 ORC contrary to and in violation of Section 2923.03 of the Ohio Revised Code, a felony of the 2nd degree.” (Blank spaces and asterisks omitted; emphasis added.)

Appellant’s contention is that the allegation of knowingly aiding Michael Brown is not sufficient in that R.C. 2923.03 requires that the aiding and abetting shall be “with the kind of culpability required for the commission of [the] offense” in which the accused participated, and the offense was robbery. Robbery, appellant argues, involves theft, and theft in turn requires proof of a purpose to deprive the owner of property or services. The issue raised by the first assignment of error is whether the complaint states any offense at all, and in this respect it is similar to, and will be reviewed in the same way as, a motion to dismiss a civil complaint under Civ. R. 12(B)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

A delinquent child, under R.C. 2151.02(A), is one “[w]ho violates any law of this state,” and a minor accused of being delinquent is obviously entitled to know what law he is charged with violating. The pertinent part of Juv. R. 10(B) that sets forth the required contents of a complaint mandates that it shall:

“(1) State in ordinary and concise language the essential facts which bring the proceeding within the jurisdiction of the court and in juvenile traffic offense and delinquency proceedings shall contain the numerical designation of the statute or ordinance alleged to have been violated[.]”

In the instant delinquency proceeding, the numerical designations of both the complicity statute and the robbery statute are set forth, so that the question is whether the other allegations of the complaint are legally sufficient.

We believe they are sufficient. The complaint plainly states that the appellant was charged with complicity in robbery. All reasonable, ordinary persons could understand that.

The specification of “knowingly” as the degree of culpability was not, in our judgment, fatally defective. Robbery is, under R.C. 2911.02(A), 2 the use (or threat of immediate use) of force while attempting or committing a theft offense or fleeing after an attempt or a completed offense. A theft offense as defined in R.C. 2913.01(E) 3 is any one of twenty- *3 six named Ohio offenses, plus innumerable other offenses under other laws that are substantially similar to those twenty-six, as well as all conspiracies, attempts and complicities. Theft as defined in R.C. 2913.02 4 is not the only “theft offense.” Even if it were, theft involves two culpable mental states, inasmuch as theft is knowingly obtaining or exerting control over property or services under specified conditions (without consent, beyond scope, by deception, or by threat) with the purpose to deprive the owner of the property or services. Other theft offenses have the same multiplicity of degrees of culpability, while still others require only one. For instance, the three burglaries require a purposeful trespass. R.C. 2911.11, 2911.12, and 2911.13.

We decline to hold that a delinquency complaint filed in the juvenile division can be sufficient only if it specifies exactly what theft offense was committed or attempted, along with the specific degree or degrees of culpability applicable to that theft offense. To do so would impose a hypertechnical requirement not required by the function and purpose of a delinquency complaint and not required for an indictment or complaint against an adult. Cf. In re Burgess (1984), 13 Ohio App. 3d 374, 13 OBR 456, 469 N.E. 2d 967. The complaint under scrutiny meets the requirements of Juv. R. 10(B). The first assignment of error is meritless.

The last three assignments of error are grounded on evidence presented at a pre-adjudication hearing on appellant’s two motions to suppress and at the adjudication hearing itself. We summarize the evidence at both hearings.

At approximately 2:50 p.m. on November 4, 1985, a group of about twelve teenaged black males rushed into a retail store at 620 Vine Street, Cincinnati, known as Sporting Foot And Things. They seized jogging suits from the racks, ignored the orders and demands of the single salesclerk, dragged her away from the telephone she was trying to use to call the police, and eventually knocked her to the sidewalk outside the store. The group then broke up and fled in several directions. The salesclerk made a report to the police, describing the assailants in general terms, and she made an inventory that disclosed twelve warm-up suits were stolen. Police Officer DeSalvo took parts of the report.

*4 The next afternoon as Officer DeSalvo was on patrol in the downtown area, he heard a radio report by Police Officer Beal that a group of young blacks wearing jogging suits had created a disturbance at Seventh and Race Streets, Cincinnati, and then fled in several directions. Officer DeSalvo drove to the area where the group was last seen and observed appellant and another young black male turn away from him and proceed to a bus. He arrested them on the basis of his knowledge about the robbery and the radio report.

Appellant was one of éighteen young blacks who were brought to police district headquarters. The salesclerk from Sporting Foot And Things was called in and asked to observe them in a line-up.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
508 N.E.2d 190, 31 Ohio App. 3d 1, 31 Ohio B. 14, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 7481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-howard-ohioctapp-1987.