Filing a Complaint Yourself
ORC 2935.09 — the second door into a charging decision
Whether a charge gets filed is a prosecutor's decision, and most people are told that is the entire answer. Ohio has a second door written into Chapter 2935, and the section's own heading says what walking through it produces: a person having knowledge of an offense files an affidavit, and an official reviews it before a complaint is filed.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio Legal Help and Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
- A private citizen having knowledge of the facts who seeks to cause an arrest or prosecution may file an affidavit charging the offense committed with a reviewing official, for review to determine whether a complaint should be filed.
- A reviewing official means a judge of a court of record, the prosecuting attorney or the attorney charged by law with the prosecution of offenses in that court or before that magistrate, or a magistrate.
- A private citizen may file the affidavit with the clerk of a court of record outside the reviewing officials' normal business hours where the clerk's office is open at those times, and the clerk forwards it when those hours resume.
What happens next is in the following section and it splits on the degree of the offense charged. Where the affidavit or complaint charges a felony, the judge, clerk or magistrate shall forthwith issue a warrant for the arrest of the person charged, unless there is reason to believe the affidavit was not filed in good faith or that the claim is not meritorious. Where either of those is believed, the matter goes to the prosecuting attorney for investigation before any warrant issues.
A misdemeanor gets discretion, not a warrant. Where the offense charged is a misdemeanor or the violation of a municipal ordinance, the section says the judge, clerk or magistrate may issue a warrant, or may issue a summons commanding the person to appear either forthwith or at a fixed time. The word is may. There is no route in the section that turns a citizen's misdemeanor affidavit into an arrest on its own.
- The filing is sworn, which is what makes it an affidavit rather than a report.
- Falsification under section 2921.13 covers a false statement made with purpose to incriminate another, and is a misdemeanor of the first degree except where the section raises it.
- The good faith and merit screen in section 2935.10 exists for the reviewing official to use, and using it is not a refusal to do their job.
“I would like to file an affidavit under section 2935.09. Who is the reviewing official for this court, and what does your office need from me?”
This describes a filing route in the Revised Code. It does not describe whether any particular set of facts is an offense, which official is the right one in a given county, or what a specific clerk's office asks for, and different courts handle the paperwork differently. Whether this route fits a situation at all, and what a sworn filing exposes the person filing it to, is a question for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORC 2935.09 — Person having knowledge of an offense files an affidavit, and official review before a complaint
- ORC 2935.10 — Procedure upon the filing of an affidavit or complaint
- ORC 2921.13 — Falsification
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.