State v. Gomez

562 N.E.2d 164, 54 Ohio App. 3d 200, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 4363
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 4, 1988
DocketS-88-3
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 562 N.E.2d 164 (State v. Gomez) 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
State v. Gomez, 562 N.E.2d 164, 54 Ohio App. 3d 200, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 4363 (Ohio Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This case is an appeal from the Sandusky County Court No. 2, wherein appellant was convicted of four counts of vehicular homicide.

On May 6, 1987, defendant-appellant, Marcos Gomez, was traveling eastbound on Township Road 55. At that same time, Angelita S. Ortiz was driving southbound on County Road 66, which intersects Township Road 55. Angelita S. Ortiz’s children, Abbi-gael, age twelve, Alexandria, age five, and Adrianna, age two, and another child, Jeremy T. Peck, age five, were passengers in the Ortiz car. Appellant, upon approaching County Road 66, failed to stop at the intersection even though stop signs were posted. Angelita Ortiz’s car hit appellant’s truck as it went through the intersection. Dead at the scene of the accident were Angelita and Abbigael Ortiz and Jeremy T. Peck. Alexandria Ortiz was hospitalized but died shortly thereafter.

Appellant on the day of the accident was cited for violation of R.C. 4511.43, failure to yield the right-of-way. On May 22,1987, a criminal complaint was issued against appellant, charging him with four counts of vehicular homicide. R.C. 2903.07(A). Appellant was served with the complaint on May 31.

Appellant, on May 26, went to the office of the clerk of courts in order to make his violations payment on the traffic offense. The employee of the clerk of courts accepted the payment and appellant asked her if he should sign anything. She advised him not to, informing him that signing would constitute a plea of guilty. Appellant did not sign anything and left the office.

Subsequently, appellant filed a motion to dismiss and a plea of “once in jeopardy” to the four counts of vehicular homicide. Appellant argued that failure to yield the right-of-way, of which he alleged he already had been convicted, is a lesser included offense of vehicular homicide. The trial court in its decision on the motion found that appellant did not comply with the Traffic Rules because he neither timely paid his fine nor properly entered a guilty plea. The court held that because the traffic violation had not yet been disposed of and appellant had not been convicted, appellant had failed to show that there had been any initial jeopardy-

Thereafter, appellant changed his *201 plea to no contest to the vehicular homicide charges and was found guilty. On December 18, 1987, the trial court sentenced appellant in accordance with the law.

Appellant timely appealed the conviction and asserts two assignments of error:

“First Assignment of Error

“The court erred in denying the defendant-appellant’s plea of once in jeopardy and in denying his motion for dismissal.

“Second Assignment of Error

“The court erred in finding the defendant-appellant guilty of four counts of negligent vehicular homicide after having entered a conviction for failure to yield the right-of-way arising out of the same facts.”

Appellant bases his double jeopardy argument on the premise that he already has been convicted of failing to yield the right-of-way at a stop sign. Because the employee of the clerk of courts accepted his money for the traffic offense, he contends that he has been duly convicted of violating R.C. 4511.43/

The Ohio Traffic Rules state within what time one must pay a fine and how one can enter a plea of guilty:

“A defendant charged with an offense which can be processed by a traffic violations bureau may, within seven days after the date of issuance of the ticket:

‘ ‘(1) Appear in person at the traffic violations bureau, sign a plea of guilty and waiver of trial provision of the ticket and pay the total amount of the fine and costs, or

“(2) Sign the guilty plea and waiver of trial provision of the ticket, and mail the ticket and a check or money order for the total amount of the fine and costs to the traffic violations bureau. * * *” Traf. R. 13(D).

Appellant argues that despite his failure to meet technical requirements of the Traffic Rules, acceptance of his violation payment was tantamount to a conviction. Furthermore, appellant contends that at the hearing held on December 15, 1987, the trial court agreed with this assertion. Indeed, the record seems to indicate that at the December hearing, the court, together with both parties, stipulated that the payment of the bond, or “violations payment,” constituted a conviction, even though appellant never properly entered a guilty plea.

Traf. R. 12, however, governs the receipt of a guilty plea:

“The pleas of guilty and no contest shall be received only by personal appearance of the defendant in open court, except that, the plea of guilty may be received in accordance with Rule 13 at a regularly established traffic violations bureau. * * *

“The receipt of a plea contrary to the provisions of these rules is forbidden.”

Appellant argues that remittance of the fine without signing still constitutes a guilty plea. However, Traf. R. 13(D) specifically states that this applies only to remittance by mail.

Appellant did not follow Traf. R. 13. He made his payment more than seven days after the issuance of the citation and did not sign the guilty plea provision on the ticket. In fact, appellant admits that he deliberately did not sign the ticket because he was told that signing would mean an admission of guilt.

Because a guilty plea was not properly received in accordance with Traf. R. 13 and because receipt of a plea contrary to these rules is forbidden, see Traf. R. 12, we find that the trial court was correct in its July 1987 decision when it held that appellant had not yet entered a guilty plea and had not been convicted of violating R.C. 4511.43. It follows then that if this is true, appellant has not been “once in *202 jeopardy” and his double jeopardy argument is moot.

Even assuming, however, that payment of the fine does constitute a conviction, appellant’s argument that double jeopardy bars the vehicular homicide conviction is incorrect. It is elemental that “* * * [n]o person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.” Section 10, Article I, Ohio Constitution. “The Double Jeopardy Clause ‘protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.’ North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717 (1969) (footnotes omitted).” Brown v. Ohio (1977), 432 U.S. 161, 165. The Double Jeopardy Clause also protects one from being prosecuted for a greater offense if one already has been convicted of a lesser included offense. See Ohio v. Johnson (1984), 467 U.S. 493, 501.

Appellant contends that failure to yield the right-of-way is a lesser included offense of vehicular homicide.

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Bluebook (online)
562 N.E.2d 164, 54 Ohio App. 3d 200, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 4363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gomez-ohioctapp-1988.