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How You Carry Yourself

U.S. Const. amend. V and VI — what actually protects you

The remedy the law provides for an unlawful stop, search or arrest is in a courtroom, through a motion to suppress. Resisting a lawful arrest and obstructing official business are offenses of their own.

  • Mapp v. Ohio
  • Ohio Crim.R. 12
  • ORC 2921.33
  • ORC 2921.31
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Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.

Words some people use here. Nothing requires them.
“I am going to remain silent, and I want to speak to a lawyer.”
  • Miranda v. Arizona
  • U.S. Const. amend. V
  • U.S. Const. amend. VI
  • Ohio Const. art. I, § 10

Disorderly conduct is the charge that fills the gap. Recklessly causing inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to another, by the conduct the section lists, is a minor misdemeanor. It becomes a fourth degree misdemeanor where somebody persists after a reasonable warning to stop, near a school, or in the presence of an officer or a first responder at an emergency. The warning is what creates the escalation, which is why the second sentence of an encounter can matter more than the first.

This is the shortest page here on purpose. It is not a strategy and it is not a substitute for a lawyer on specific facts. What keeps an encounter from getting worse and what wins a case afterwards are two different questions, and the second one belongs to a licensed Ohio attorney.

  • U.S. Const. amend. V
  • U.S. Const. amend. VI
  • Ohio Crim.R. 44
Sources for this section (10)
  1. U.S. Const. amend. V — Rights in criminal cases, self incrimination
  2. U.S. Const. amend. VI — Right to counsel
  3. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) — Right to remain silent and to counsel during custodial interrogation
  4. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961) — Evidence from an unlawful search is excluded in state court
  5. Ohio Crim.R. 12 — Pretrial motions, including motions to suppress evidence
  6. ORC 2921.33 — Resisting arrest
  7. ORC 2921.31 — Obstructing official business
  8. Ohio Const. art. I, § 10 — Rights of the accused
  9. ORC 2917.11 — Disorderly conduct
  10. Ohio Crim.R. 44 — Assignment of counsel where a defendant cannot employ one

Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.

From here

Walked through

This section is the long version of a step in one walkthrough. Each one takes the same law one decision at a time, with both sides of the moment written out.