State v. Schwabie

84 N.E.2d 768, 53 Ohio Law. Abs. 264, 1948 Ohio App. LEXIS 849
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 6, 1948
DocketNos. 21120, 21122
StatusPublished

This text of 84 N.E.2d 768 (State v. Schwabie) 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. Schwabie, 84 N.E.2d 768, 53 Ohio Law. Abs. 264, 1948 Ohio App. LEXIS 849 (Ohio Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

OPINION

By HURD, PJ.

These cases come before this court on appeal on questions of law from the police court of the city of Cleveland Heights where the defendants appellants were found guilty of violating the provisions of §13067 GC.

While these appeals were presented and argued separately, we are considering them together because on the facts the same primary question of law arises for our determination in each case. This question may be phrased thusly:

Does the mere printing of a lottery ticket or a result sheet by a printer, without any distribution, advertisement or publication thereof, constitute a violation of §13067 GC?

The pertinent part of the affidavit charging Schwabie, reads:—

“For unlawfully printing an account of certain lotteries and schemes of chance, stating when and where said lotteries and.schemes of chance were to be drawn and did print an [266]*266account of the prizes therein and the price of the lottery tickets and tickets for such schemes of chance and did print an account giving publicity to said lotteries and schemes of chance contrary to the form of the statute.”

The evidence shows that the defendant, Schwabie, operates a printing shop in the basement of his home at 2836 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio. On Feb. 6, 1948, certain officers of the city requested permission to go into the basement, whereupon the defendant accompanied by the officers went to the basement where the defendant had been engaged in repairing a motor. They found there two or three power-fed printing presses, a folding machine and three stitching machines. They also found certain material, including tickets for a drawing at a church in Solon, Ohio; lottery tickets, books of lottery tickets, chases containing cuts for the printing of lottery tickets and result sheets and copies of invoices on the billheads of defendant. During the course of the trial an officer testified in part as follows:

“A. I asked Schwabie if he was printing tickets and he said ‘No.’ He said ‘You know better than that.’ I said, ‘You were printing last week Fred.’ He said, ‘No’ He said T got out of that a long time ago.’ ”

Considering this and all the evidence in Schwabie’s case as shown by the record, we think that the trial court could find by inference from the circumstances that the defendant had previously printed the material found in his shop, the time of so doing being uncertain, and that if this constituted a violation of the statute the finding of guilty should be sustained. However, there is in the record no evidence showing any publication, distribution or circulation by defendant of the printed material in question, and if these elements are necessary to constitute a violation, the judgment should be reversed.

The pertinent parts of the affidavit charging Simmons read:

“did unlawfully print an account of certain lotteries and schemes of chance know as ‘Universal’ stating where such lotteries and schemes of chance were to be drawn and did print an account of the prizes therein and the price of the lottery tickets and the tickets for said scheme of chance contrary to the form of the statute * *

[267]*267The evidence in the Simmons case shows that on the 10th of March, 1948, certain officers of the city went to the place of business of the defendant and confiscated a lot of material found therein, some belonging to the defendant and some belonging to other persons.

The state introduced in evidence exhibits consisting of photographs of the business place of the defendant portraying among other things printing machinery, folding and stitching machines. For the rest, the evidence introduced in the trial of Simmons was substantially of the same character and to the same general effect as in Schwabie’s case and our observations and. conclusions in respect of the evidence in the Schwabie case are equally applicable in the Simmons case.

We come now to a consideration of the question above posed as to whether or not the mechanical printing of lottery and result tickets constitutes a violation of §13067 GC, which interdicts the writing, printing and publishing of an account of a lottery or scheme of chance, stating therein the place of the drawing, the prizes to be given, or the price of the ticket, or showing where a ticket may be purchased. The statute is as follows:

“Sec. 13067 GC. ADVERTISING LOTTERIES. Whoever writes, prints or publishes an account of a lottery or scheme of chance by whatsoever name, style or title denominated or known, stating when or where it is to be or has been drawn, or the prizes therein, or any of them, or the price of the ticket, or showing where a ticket may be or has been obtained, or giving publicity to such lottery or scheme of chance, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned in jail not more than six months, or both.”

The first principle in construing penal statutes is that a rule of strict construction applies. Penal statutes and ordinances cannot be extended by construction or by implication to persons or things not coming within the express terms of the statute.

Directly in point are the following authorities:

State of Ohio, appellee v. Associates Investment Co., 136 Oh St 456. Syllabus 1:

“Penal statutes are strictly construed. Where a statute defining an offense designates one class of persons as subject to its penalty, all other persons are deemed to be exempted therefrom.”

[268]*268At page 458 the court said:

“The rules of construction to be applied to the terms and provisions of criminal statutes are so clearly stated and so well established as to scarcely require repetition or the citation of authority to support them. As stated in 2 Sutherland on Statutory Construction (2 Ed) 963, Sec. 520.

‘That penal statutes are to be strictly construed has become a maxim of the law, affirmed and illustrated by innumerable cases * * *. Nothing is to be regarded as included within them that is not within their letters as well as their spirit; nothing that is not clearly and intelligibly described in the very words of the statute, as well as manifestly intended by the legislature’.

“We need go no further than the decisions of our own court for cases in point. The gist of these decisions is stated in 12 O. Jur. 55, Sec. 12, where supporting decisions are cited.”

See also: 12 O. Jur. p. 53, 12, Construction of Penal Statutes:

“It is well established rule that penal statutes must be strictly construed and the rule is jealously guarded. The rule of strict construction applies to words defining an offense and prescribing punishment whether found in a statute or an ordinance or a by-law.”

Additional authorities to the same effect are:

City of Cleveland v. Jorski, 142 Oh St 529; In re Moreno and In re Lunce 83 Oh Ap 54.

In the light of these applicable principles of law, we come now to a construction of the statute and its application to the facts herein. A break-down of the statute into its component parts grammatically may be made as follows:

“Whoever writes, prints or publishes an account of a lottery ■or scheme of chance by whatsoever name, style or title denominated or known * * * shall be fined, etc.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 N.E.2d 768, 53 Ohio Law. Abs. 264, 1948 Ohio App. LEXIS 849, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-schwabie-ohioctapp-1948.