State v. Stover

456 N.E.2d 833, 8 Ohio App. 3d 179, 8 Ohio B. 239, 1982 Ohio App. LEXIS 11241
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 9, 1982
Docket44563
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 456 N.E.2d 833 (State v. Stover) 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. Stover, 456 N.E.2d 833, 8 Ohio App. 3d 179, 8 Ohio B. 239, 1982 Ohio App. LEXIS 11241 (Ohio Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

Parrino, J.

Defendant-appellant Mary M. Stover appeals from her conviction of gambling, in violation of R.C. 2915.02, which conviction was obtained following a trial to the court in the court of common pleas. Appellant assigns one error:

“The court erred in denying the appellant’s motion to dismiss the indictment which motion contended that this prosecution was barred by double jeopardy and collateral estoppel principles.”

The assignment is not well-taken.

On February 5, 1981, pursuant to a lawfully executed search warrant, Cleveland police officers entered the premises at 10511 Hathaway and seized various items including clearing house pads, tally sheets, money, an adding machine and a tape recorder. Appellant *180 and another individual, Paul Sanders, were also arrested at that time. Sanders was charged by complaint with operating a gambling house in violation of R.C. 2915.03 and Stover with complicity in operating a gambling house, R.C. 2923.03. 1 Following a trial to the court in Cleveland Municipal Court (case Nos. 81 CRB 3135 and 81 CRB 3463), both defendants were acquitted. In reaching this decision the court stated:

“Although I’m convinced that both these parties had something to do with that operation, I’m not convinced that they were in fact, in control. I’m not convinced that they were supervising that operation.
* *
“* * * I think that under the circumstances, and this being a criminal case, where the evidence is by law, required to be beyond a reasonable doubt, it is not sufficient evidence in this case, to convict them of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Subsequently, on March 11, 1981, Mary Stover and Paul Sanders were indicted for possession of criminal tools in violation of R.C. 2923.24, 2 which tools were described as “clearing house pads, tally sheets, money, adding machine, and a tape recorder.” Prior to trial appellant Stover filed a motion to dismiss claiming double jeopardy and collateral estoppel; the motion was denied and the case proceeded to trial without jury September 29, 1981.

After presentation of all the evidence and arguments by counsel, the court found appellant Mary Stover guilty of gambling in violation of R.C. 2915.02 3 as a lesser included offense under the charge of the indictment.

It is appellant’s position on appeal that this conviction for gambling violates both the Fifth Amendment protection *181 against double jeopardy and the principle of collateral estoppel which, under authority of Ashe v. Swenson (1970), 397 U.S. 436, 445, is embodied in the guarantee against double jeopardy. The position is not well-taken, however, and the dual prosecutions in this case neither violate double jeopardy protections nor are precluded by the doctrine of collateral estoppel.

Appellant appears to concede that under the test set forth in Blockburger v. United States (1932), 284 U.S. 299, the separate prosecutions for operating a gambling house (R.C. 2915.03) and possession of criminal tools (R.C. 2923.24) may be prosecuted separately as “each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.” 284 U.S. 299, 304. In any event, the separate prosecutions were clearly permitted under Blockburger. The gambling house offense required proof of control or supervision of premises used for gambling; whereas the possession of criminal tools charge required proof of possession or control of devices or articles with purpose to use them criminally. Proof of either offense would not prove the other offense. Since each statute required proof in addition to that required for the other, acquittal under R.C. 2915.03 or the complicity statute, R.C. 2923.03, did not preclude prosecution under R.C. 2923.24. State v. Best (1975), 42 Ohio St. 2d 530 [71 O.O.2d 517]; State v. Thomas (1980), 61 Ohio St. 2d 254 [15 O.O.3d 262]; State v. Foley (July 15, 1982), Cuyahoga App. No. 44237, unreported.

Neither does the doctrine of collateral. estoppel as set forth in Ashe v. Swenson, supra, and Brown v. Ohio (1977), 432 U.S. 161, preclude the second prosecution. The doctrine, as succinctly explained in Brown at 165, “* * * protects the accused from attempts to relitigate the facts underlying a prior acquittal.”

No relitigation of the facts underlying Stover’s acquittal on the charge of operating a gambling house occurred in her trial for possession of criminal tools. The determination that appellant was not in control or possession of the premises from which the gambling paraphernalia was seized did not turn on whether the appellant was in control of the items for which she was charged with possession. As stated in Ashe v. Swenson, supra, at 443:

“* * * [collateral estoppel] means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.”

The issue of whether or not appellant Stover had possession of the paraphernalia, although addressed to some extent in the prior proceedings, was not determined, as the issue in that proceeding was whether or not appellant was in possession or control of the premises.

Accordingly, it was not error to prosecute appellant separately for possession of criminal tools.

However, the decision below must be reversed as the trial court committed plain error by finding appellant guilty of the “included offense” of gambling under a charge and trial for possession of criminal tools.

The propriety of convicting a defen *182 dant for a lesser offense which is included within the offense for which the defendant is charged and tried is well-settled law and is authorized by statute. 4 The’ Ohio Supreme Court defined “lesser included offense” in State v. Hreno (1954), 162 Ohio St. 193 [55 O.O. 97], paragraph two of the syllabus, as:

“An offense is a lesser included offense, where all the elements of such offense are present with others in the offense charged in an indictment.”

See, also, State v. Jones (1975), 47 Ohio App. 2d 8 [1 O.O.3d 156].

The offense of gambling, set forth at R.C. 2915.02 5

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Bluebook (online)
456 N.E.2d 833, 8 Ohio App. 3d 179, 8 Ohio B. 239, 1982 Ohio App. LEXIS 11241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stover-ohioctapp-1982.