>COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has tossed out a burglary conviction for a man who walked past a homeowner and took a leaf blower, saying it wasn’t burglary because the man made no effort to conceal what he was doing.
>In a unanimous decision released Wednesday, the court ruled that Scioto County Common Pleas court should convict Donald Bertram of criminal trespassing instead of burglary. The ruling says prosecutors failed to prove Bertram trespassed by “force, stealth, or deception,” which is required for a burglary conviction under Ohio law.
>According to court documents, Timothy Huff was doing yardwork at his home in Portsmouth on Sept. 18, 2020, when he heard a car with a loud muffler drive past. Huff said the car “alerted” him, so he went inside his house to get his cellphone
>Huff says when he came back outside, he made eye contact with Bertram, who was driving. Bertram drove past the house, but then turned around and parked near the end of Huff’s driveway.
>Bertram got out of the car and began walking toward the home’s open garage, acting “very cavalier” with “no sense of urgency at all,” Huff told a jury, according to court documents. Huff says a smiling Bertram walked into the garage, took a $500 leaf blower, then walked back to his car, ignoring Huff’s demands to put the leaf blower down.
>Bertram then put the leaf blower on the passenger seat of his car and drove away, but not before Huff was able to take several closeup photos, court documents show.
>An appeals court rejected an earlier attempt by Bertram to have his conviction reversed, ruling that “Bertram’s ‘attitude and demeanor’ had deceived Huff into believing that Bertram was not intending to trespass into the garage and steal the leaf blower.”
>But the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors did not meet the requirements to convict Bertram of burglary.
>“Here, the evidence utterly failed to establish that during his trespass, Bertram engaged in any secret, sly, or clandestine conduct,” the ruling says. “Bertram did not act to avoid his discovery or to reduce the chance of his being noticed. Nor did Bertram deceive, mislead, lie to, or trick Huff into granting him entry into the garage.”
>Bertram had been sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison, but now is facing no more than a year in jail.
This is not oniony it’s just a feature of those particular laws. That’s nothing like the old common law definition of burglary which doesn’t even include theft, only entering property with intent to steal.
Nothing oniony here at all. Just specific local legal definitions at work.
Well, shit that is a fucking stuff sentence, 8-12 years for stealing a leaf blower. Unless this guy has a long radio sheet, the 1 year is really fitting.
WimpyLimpet says
>COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has tossed out a burglary conviction for a man who walked past a homeowner and took a leaf blower, saying it wasn’t burglary because the man made no effort to conceal what he was doing.
>In a unanimous decision released Wednesday, the court ruled that Scioto County Common Pleas court should convict Donald Bertram of criminal trespassing instead of burglary. The ruling says prosecutors failed to prove Bertram trespassed by “force, stealth, or deception,” which is required for a burglary conviction under Ohio law.
>According to court documents, Timothy Huff was doing yardwork at his home in Portsmouth on Sept. 18, 2020, when he heard a car with a loud muffler drive past. Huff said the car “alerted” him, so he went inside his house to get his cellphone
>Huff says when he came back outside, he made eye contact with Bertram, who was driving. Bertram drove past the house, but then turned around and parked near the end of Huff’s driveway.
>Bertram got out of the car and began walking toward the home’s open garage, acting “very cavalier” with “no sense of urgency at all,” Huff told a jury, according to court documents. Huff says a smiling Bertram walked into the garage, took a $500 leaf blower, then walked back to his car, ignoring Huff’s demands to put the leaf blower down.
>Bertram then put the leaf blower on the passenger seat of his car and drove away, but not before Huff was able to take several closeup photos, court documents show.
>An appeals court rejected an earlier attempt by Bertram to have his conviction reversed, ruling that “Bertram’s ‘attitude and demeanor’ had deceived Huff into believing that Bertram was not intending to trespass into the garage and steal the leaf blower.”
>But the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors did not meet the requirements to convict Bertram of burglary.
>“Here, the evidence utterly failed to establish that during his trespass, Bertram engaged in any secret, sly, or clandestine conduct,” the ruling says. “Bertram did not act to avoid his discovery or to reduce the chance of his being noticed. Nor did Bertram deceive, mislead, lie to, or trick Huff into granting him entry into the garage.”
>Bertram had been sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison, but now is facing no more than a year in jail.
GetlostMaps says
This is not oniony it’s just a feature of those particular laws. That’s nothing like the old common law definition of burglary which doesn’t even include theft, only entering property with intent to steal.
Nothing oniony here at all. Just specific local legal definitions at work.
Thenameimusingtoday says
Well, shit that is a fucking stuff sentence, 8-12 years for stealing a leaf blower. Unless this guy has a long radio sheet, the 1 year is really fitting.
TerpBE says
Ahh the old “Clarence Thomas” defense. If everybody knows about it, it’s no longer bad.
Wizchine says
I guess he was supposed to shoot him.