An Ohio man who walked into a garage and took away a leaf blower and put it in his car as the homeowner watched had his conviction overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2023. That was based on Ohio’s legal definition of “burglary”.
Prosecutors are backing a bill to change that, but the state's public defender's office is concerned.
The court unanimously overturned the conviction and 8-12 year prison sentence of Donald Bertram for taking the leaf blower from the garage of Timothy Huff’s Portsmouth home in front of him, saying because Bertram didn’t make any attempt to be deceptive, it was just trespass and not burglary.
“We think people would be shocked to know that somebody could do what this guy did in the Bertram case and walk away with a misdemeanor trespass," said Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association executive director Lou Tobin in an interview for "The State of Ohio".
Tobin said Bertram decided to park his noisy car up the street because he thought it would draw attention, and that counts as "stealth". Tobin said he thinks the jury in the trial court came to the right decision, but that the statute should still be changed.
"Our burglary laws are about protecting the sanctity of the home and recognizing the increased danger when people enter the home through any means with whatever their intent is," Tobin said.
But the Office of the Ohio Public Defender cautioned striking those words could lead to felony charges and penalties on crimes that should be misdemeanors.
"The change would lead to a dramatic expansion of felony charges for acts that are currently, and appropriately, classified as lesser offenses like criminal trespass or theft," wrote OOPD legislative policy manager Zachary Miller in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee last month. "Eliminating 'force, stealth, or deception' is an unnecessary alteration to Ohio's criminal code that will not make communities safer, it will only lead to the imposition of harsher penalties that are disproportionate to the conduct."
House Bill 252 has had three hearings since it was introduced in April.
