State v. Nelson

365 N.E.2d 1268, 51 Ohio App. 2d 31, 5 Ohio Op. 3d 158, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 6917
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 24, 1977
Docket35250
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 365 N.E.2d 1268 (State v. Nelson) 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. Nelson, 365 N.E.2d 1268, 51 Ohio App. 2d 31, 5 Ohio Op. 3d 158, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 6917 (Ohio Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Corrigan, J.

This is an appeal by the state from the granting of a motion to dismiss an indictment for robbery filed against the appellees, Thelma Nelson and Michael Wilson.

In dismissing the indictment, the court made no findings of fact and did not state its reasons for granting the dismissal. The appellant’s first assignment of error is that the Court of Common Pleas erred in dismissing the indictment without stating on the record the court’s findings of fact and reasons for the dismissal.

Criminal Rule 48(B) provides that if a court dismisses an indictment over objection of the state the court “shall state on the record its findings of fact and reasons for the dismissal.” Criminal Rule 48(B) is mandatory and should be followed by the trial court when dismissing an indictment over the state’s objection.

In State v. Bound (1975), 43 Ohio App. 2d 44, we held:

“The failure of the trial court to comply with Criminal Rule 48(B) when dismissing an indictment for lack of a speedy trial requires a remand to the trial court, on appeal by the state, for such findings of fact and reasons for the dismissal that will enable the reviewing court to pass upon the assignments of error.”

Bound, however, does not require a remand in all cases. In Bound, the defendant claimed that his constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. Without findings of fact as to the reasons for the delay in bringing the accused to trial, we could not determine if the trial court acted correctly when it determined that the accused should be discharged because of a denial of his right to a speedy trial. Also, there was some doubt as to whether the trial court found a denial of a speedy trial based on the defendant’s constitutional right or his statutory rights under Ohio law. A statement of the court’s reasons for dismissing *33 the indictment against Bound would have resolved this doubt. In Bownd, violation of Crim. R. 48(B) required a remand to clarify the record so we could properly pass upon the appellant’s assignments of error.

In the case at bar, however, there is no need to clarify the record. The facts are not in dispute and it is clear that the indictment was dismissed on a claim of former jeopardy. Although it was error for the trial court to fail to state its findings of fact and reasons for the dismissal, the error did not prejudice the state’s appeal. Accordingly, we find the error to be harmless and overrule appellant’s first assignment of error. See Crim. R. 52(A).

Appellant’s second and third assignments of error will be treated together because they both involve the same issue. The appellant contends that the court erred in dismissing the indictment on the basis of former jeopardy because the prior convictions of the appellees were obtained without jurisdiction and were void and therefore cannot support a claim of former jeopardy.

The record establishes that Thelma Nelson and Michael Wilson were accused of shoplifting a leisure suit from the May Company. The suit had a retail value of forty-one dollars and ninety-seven cents. Security guards for the May Company observed Michael Wilson place the suit in a shopping bag and begin to leave the store. When the security guard identified himself, Michael Wilson ran. A chase ensued and Michael Wilson was apprehended.- As Wilson was being brought back to the store, he struck one of the guards knocking him to the ground. The guard struck his head on the ground and had to receive medical attention.

Both Michael Wilson and Thelma Nelson were' charged with robbery, a felony of the second degree. They were brought to Cleveland Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing. The court found that there was no ; probable cause to believe that a felony had been committed but did find probable cause to believe that the appellees ’ had committed petty theft, a misdemeanor of the first degree. The court, however, never caused a complaint to .issue charging the appellees with thé crime of petty theft. The *34 appellees immediately entered pleas of no contest to lie petty theft charge. The court found them guilty of petty theft and sentenced them to ten days in the workhouse and to pay a fine of fifty dollars plus costs. The1 ten days were suspended and the appellees were placed on one-year inactive probation.

Two weeks after the municipal court proceedings, the county grand jury returned indictments against Michael Wilson and Thelma Nelson charging them with robbery in the May Company incident. Both appellees filed motions in Common Pleas Court alleging that they had once been in jeopardy in Municipal Court for the alleged theft from the May Company and that further prosecutions against them for that incident would constitute double jeopardy and violate their rights under Section 10, Article I of the Ohio Constitution and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The motions were granted- and the appellees were ordered discharged.

It is clear that if the convictions in the Cleveland Municipal Court were proper and for the same offense as charged in the indictments, the double jeopardy clauses of the Ohio and federal constitutions will protect the appellees from further prosecution under the indictments.

The Ohio Supreme Court stated in State v. Best (1975), 42 Ohio St. 2d 530:

“2. To sustain a plea of former jeopardy, it must appear:
“(1) that there was a former prosecution in the same state for the same offense;
“(2) that the same person was in jeopardy on the first prosecution ;
“(3) that the parties are identical in the two prosecutions ; and
“(4) that the particular offense, on the prosecution of which the jeopardy attached, was. such an offense as to constitute a bar.”

There is no dispute that the second and; third requirements as . set forth in Best are satisfied in this case. The. parties before the Municipal Court and the. Court of Common Pleas are identical. The fact that the prior proceed- *35 mg was in Municipal Court and the present proceeding is in Common Pleas Court will not defeat the identity of the parties. For purposes of double jeopardy, the state is a single sovereign and cannot defeat a defendant’s double jeopardy rights by prosecuting first in a municipal court and then in a county court. Waller v. Florida (1970), 397 U. S. 387, 25 L. Ed. 2d 435; State v. Best, supra. The fourth requirement is also satisfied. Petty theft is a. lesser included offense of robbery. (See our discussion of appellant’s fourth assignment of error.) For purposes of double jeopardy an offense and all its lesser incuded offenses are the same offense. State v. Best, supra.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
365 N.E.2d 1268, 51 Ohio App. 2d 31, 5 Ohio Op. 3d 158, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 6917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nelson-ohioctapp-1977.