WHAT THE WORDS MEAN

Most of what goes wrong in an encounter goes wrong at the vocabulary. Detained and arrested are two different legal states with different rules attached. Consent is a defined term. Bulk is a number that changes by substance. Here is each word, what it actually means, and the misreading it usually collects.

Find a word

105 terms

A

Accessible to the operator

Also called loaded and within reach, ready at hand, in the car

The phrase that decides most vehicle firearm cases. Improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle turns on whether a loaded firearm was accessible to the operator or a passenger without leaving the vehicle.

What it is not

Not a question about the glovebox versus the console. The test is reach from a seat, and a locked container or the trunk is what the statute contemplates instead. A qualifying adult carrying lawfully is a separate track inside the same section.

ORC 2923.16

Where it applies →

Adjudication

Also called found delinquent, the juvenile version of a conviction

The juvenile court finding that a child committed the act alleged. It is what that court does instead of convicting, and what follows it is called a disposition rather than a sentence.

What it is not

Not a criminal conviction. A form asking whether somebody has been convicted of a crime is asking a different question from one asking about an adjudication, and treating the two as the same word is how people answer wrongly in both directions.

Where it applies →

Administrative license suspension

Also called ALS, they took my license at the scene

A suspension imposed by the registrar on refusal or on a test over the limit, effective from the arrest and independent of the criminal case.

What it is not

It is not the court's sentence and it does not wait for one. An acquittal in the criminal case does not automatically undo it, and the window to appeal it runs on its own clock.

Where it applies →

Administrative warrant

Also called ice warrant, immigration warrant, i-200, detainer

A document issued by an agency rather than by a court. An immigration detainer and a warrant for arrest of an alien are both signed inside the agency, by an officer or a supervisor.

What it is not

The word warrant on a document does not mean a judge signed it, and a judicial warrant is the one that rests on probable cause found by a neutral officer of the court. Which kind is in front of you is a question about the signature, not the heading.

Where it applies →

Amenability

Also called the bindover hearing, amenable to rehabilitation

Whether a child can be cared for or rehabilitated within the juvenile system. Where a transfer is discretionary, this is the question the hearing is about.

What it is not

Not a question about the seriousness of the act alone. It is a hearing with evidence about a particular child, and it is exactly the hearing a mandatory transfer does not get.

ORC 2152.12

Where it applies →

Apparent authority

Also called they thought she lived there, reasonable mistake

A search is valid where officers reasonably believed the person consenting had authority over the place, even if that belief turns out to be wrong.

What it is not

The question is whether the belief was reasonable, not whether it was correct. A search can stand on a mistake and fall on an unreasonable one.

Illinois v. Rodriguez

Where it applies →

Appointed counsel

Also called public defender, court appointed lawyer, free lawyer

Counsel provided at public expense to a defendant who cannot afford one, required in any case where imprisonment is actually imposed.

What it is not

The right attaches to the prosecution, not to the roadside. Asking for a lawyer during questioning and being appointed one by a court are two different mechanisms.

Where it applies →

Arraignment

Also called first court date, reading the charges

The hearing where the charge is read and a plea is entered. In Ohio the initial appearance and the arraignment can happen at the same hearing in a misdemeanor case.

What it is not

It is not a trial and nothing about guilt is decided there. It is the procedural start of the case.

Where it applies →

Assured clear distance ahead

Also called ACDA, too close to stop, following too closely

The rule in division (A) of the speed section: no greater speed than lets the vehicle be brought to a stop within the distance that is clear ahead of it.

What it is not

There is no number in it. A speed under the posted limit can violate it, which is why it is the provision behind most rear end collisions, and it is also the one division an officer's unaided visual estimate may still support.

ORC 4511.21

Where it applies →

B

Bindover

Also called transfer, tried as an adult, sent to adult court

Moving a case out of juvenile court and into adult criminal court. Ohio has a mandatory kind, where eligibility decides it, and a discretionary kind, where a hearing does.

What it is not

It is not a sentencing decision and it happens before anything is decided about the act. Once a case is transferred, none of the juvenile vocabulary applies to it any more.

Where it applies →

Brady material

Also called exculpatory evidence, favourable evidence, they hid evidence

Evidence favourable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment. Suppressing it violates due process regardless of whether the prosecution acted in good faith, and Giglio extends it to evidence impeaching a government witness.

What it is not

Not a subset of the discovery rule and not dependent on anybody filing the right paperwork. That independence is exactly why it survives a case where the discovery request was narrow or late.

Where it applies →

Broadcasting a proceeding

Also called filming in court, recording a hearing, cameras in the courtroom

Recording, photographing or broadcasting a court proceeding. A statewide rule governs it, the judge presiding has discretion over the request, and each court can carry its own local rule on top.

What it is not

Not the same right as filming police in public. A courtroom is not a public forum for this purpose, and the First Amendment analysis that protects recording an officer on a sidewalk does not carry into the gallery.

Sup.R. 12

Where it applies →

Bulk amount

Also called bulk, how much is bulk

A quantity defined per substance in the definitions section, which the possession and trafficking tables then use as their unit. Multiples of it set the degree.

What it is not

It is not one number. Bulk for a schedule II stimulant and bulk for a schedule III compound are defined separately, which is why a weight alone never answers the question.

ORC 2925.01

Where it applies →

C

Civil penalty

Also called camera ticket, photo ticket, ticket in the mail

A monetary penalty imposed outside the criminal process. A traffic camera violation is one, which is why it carries no points, is not reported to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and is not recorded on a driving record.

What it is not

Not a criminal charge and not a moving violation, but still owed. Nothing about it being civil means it goes away if it is ignored.

Where it applies →

Clear and convincing evidence

Also called what they have to prove, the standard

A standard of proof higher than the balance of probabilities used in an ordinary civil case and lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Ohio uses it for civil commitment and for forfeiture, among other things.

What it is not

Not the criminal standard. A finding made on it is not a finding that something was proved beyond a reasonable doubt, which is why property can be forfeited and a person committed without anyone being convicted of anything.

Where it applies →

Collateral attack

Also called postconviction, habeas, going after the conviction later

A later proceeding that challenges a conviction from outside the direct appeal, such as a petition for postconviction relief or a habeas action.

What it is not

Not the same as an appeal, and not covered by the rule that keeps a no contest plea out of later proceedings. The Ohio Supreme Court held that protection does not run against the defendant's own collateral attack on the judgment the plea produced.

Where it applies →

Community control

Also called probation, CCS, supervision

Court supervision imposed instead of a prison term, with conditions set by the court. Ohio replaced the word probation with this term for felony sentencing.

What it is not

It is a sentence, not the absence of one. A violation of its conditions can result in the prison term the court held in reserve.

ORC 2929.13

Where it applies →

Competency to stand trial

Also called competent, fit to stand trial, cant understand whats happening

Whether a defendant, because of their present mental condition, is capable of understanding the nature and objective of the proceedings and of assisting in the defence. A defendant is presumed competent, and a finding otherwise takes a hearing and a preponderance of the evidence.

What it is not

Not a defence and not a verdict. A finding of incompetency stops a case where it stands and sends the question to treatment; the charge is still there afterwards. It is also a question about now, which is what separates it from insanity.

Where it applies →

Competent to be an elector

Also called allowed to vote, voting rights restored, can i vote

The statutory way of saying eligible to vote. A felony conviction removes it, and the same section gives it back on parole, judicial release, a conditional pardon, non jail community control or post release control, and thereafter on final discharge.

What it is not

Competent is not the same as registered. A felony conviction cancels a voter registration and nothing in the statute re creates it, so eligibility returns and the registration has to be made again.

Where it applies →

Consensual encounter

Also called just talking, voluntary contact, casual conversation

An officer speaking to a person without having stopped them. No suspicion of any kind is required, because legally nothing has happened yet.

What it is not

A conversation does not become a stop because it feels like one, and it does not stay consensual because the officer is polite. What settles it is whether a reasonable person would feel free to end it and leave.

Where it applies →

Curtilage

Also called my porch, the yard, around the house

The area immediately around a home that is treated as part of the home for Fourth Amendment purposes. A porch is the standard example.

What it is not

The implied licence that lets anyone walk up and knock does not extend to bringing a drug dog to the door. The same steps can be lawful for one purpose and a search for another.

Where it applies →

Custody

Also called in custody, under arrest for Miranda purposes

Formal arrest, or a restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with a formal arrest. It is the condition that, combined with questioning, triggers the Miranda warnings.

What it is not

An ordinary traffic stop is not custody, which is why questions at the roadside come with no warnings and the answers are still usable.

Where it applies →

D

Dangerous ordnance

Also called destructive device, automatic weapon, explosives

A defined category above deadly weapon, covering automatic and sawed off firearms, military weapons, explosive devices and similar items, with express exclusions in the definition.

What it is not

Not a synonym for a scary looking gun. It is a list in the definitions section, and the offences that name it, courthouses and school safety zones among them, name deadly weapon alongside it rather than instead of it.

Where it applies →

Deadly force

Also called lethal force, shooting a suspect

Force likely to cause death or serious physical harm. Against a fleeing person it is unreasonable unless the officer has probable cause to believe that person poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury.

What it is not

Fleeing is not itself that threat. Garner is where the older rule permitting force against any fleeing felon stopped being law, which is the part still repeated as though it survived.

Where it applies →

Deadly weapon

Also called weapon, is my knife a weapon

Anything capable of inflicting death that is either designed or specially adapted for use as a weapon, or possessed, carried or used as one. It is a definition with elements, and nothing is a deadly weapon by default.

What it is not

Since 2021 the carrying section carries its own narrower rule for knives, razors and cutting instruments. That narrower rule is written for that section, and everywhere else the general definition above is the one that applies.

Where it applies →

Degree

Also called level, M1, F5, how serious is it

The classification every Ohio offence carries, from minor misdemeanor up to felony of the first degree. The degree sets the available range before anyone looks at the facts.

What it is not

The degree is not the sentence. It is the outer boundary of what a sentence can be, and where inside it a case lands is a separate set of rules.

ORC 2901.02

Where it applies →

Designated party

Also called naming the driver, someone else was driving

The person a registered owner names, by sworn affidavit, as having been operating the vehicle when a camera recorded the violation. Naming one moves the liability to that person.

What it is not

It does not take the owner out of the process. Where the designated party contests it, the owner is required to attend the hearing too, and if the hearing officer cannot work out who was driving, the owner is liable.

Where it applies →

Direct threat

Also called safety risk, officer safety exception

A significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by a reasonable modification. Where one exists, the modification is not required.

What it is not

It is a defined standard, not a description of how tense a situation felt. The question is whether a modification could have removed the risk, not whether anyone was worried.

28 C.F.R. 35.139

Where it applies →

Discovery

Also called getting the evidence, what they have on me, the file

The exchange of evidence between the parties in a criminal case. On receipt of a written demand the prosecuting attorney provides the categories the rule lists, including statements, records, lab results and officer reports.

What it is not

It does not start on its own. The rule runs on a written demand, and filing one switches on the defendant's own duty to provide the same categories back.

Ohio Crim.R. 16

Where it applies →

Duty to disclose

Also called duty to inform, telling police about my gun, do i have to say

The obligation on somebody carrying a concealed handgun to tell an officer about it during a stop. The 2022 amendment tied the duty to the officer asking.

What it is not

Published summaries still disagree about whether anything of the older proactive duty survived, and this site does not resolve it. What is not in dispute is that failing to disclose when asked is the offence.

Where it applies →

E

Effective communication

Also called interpreter, auxiliary aids, sign language, they would not get an interpreter

The requirement that a public entity communicate with a person with a disability as effectively as it communicates with anyone else, furnishing auxiliary aids and services where they are needed. The entity must give primary consideration to what the person asks for.

What it is not

Any communication is not automatically effective communication. Notes passed back and forth can be effective for a short exchange and not for a long or complicated one, because the length and complexity are part of the test.

28 C.F.R. 35.160

Where it applies →

Emergency hospitalization

Also called pink slip, pink slipped, 72 hour hold, psych hold

Custody and transport to a hospital for examination, on a belief that a person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if left at liberty. Police are one of several who may do it.

What it is not

Not an arrest, and no charge exists. That does not mean the person is free to leave. It means a different chapter is running, through the probate court rather than the criminal one.

ORC 5122.10

Where it applies →

Exclusionary rule

Also called thrown out, suppressed, fruit of the poisonous tree

Evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment is generally inadmissible in a criminal prosecution. The case that applied the rule to the states came out of Ohio.

What it is not

Suppression is decided by a judge on a motion, long after the encounter. Nothing is excluded at the roadside, and an unlawful search does not stop an arrest from happening.

Mapp v. Ohio

Where it applies →

Exigent circumstances

Also called emergency, hot pursuit, no time for a warrant

An emergency that excuses the warrant requirement, such as an immediate risk to life, a suspect in flight, or evidence about to be destroyed.

What it is not

Officers may create the situation that produces the emergency, provided they did not do so by threatening to violate the Fourth Amendment. The doctrine is narrower than the phrase sounds, and wider than most people expect.

Where it applies →

Explanation of circumstances

Also called reading the facts into the record, the prosecutor's recitation

The account of the offence a court hears before making a finding on a misdemeanour no contest plea. Section 2937.07 lets the judge find guilty or not guilty from it.

What it is not

It is a procedural protection rather than a test of whether the evidence is sufficient, which is what the Ohio Supreme Court held in Giordano. A court that skips it has made an error to be fixed, not ended the prosecution.

Where it applies →

F

Forfeiture

Also called they kept my stuff, asset forfeiture, seizing my property

The state going to court to keep seized property permanently. It is a separate proceeding from the criminal case, with its own filings, its own standard of proof, and its own deadlines.

What it is not

Seizing property and forfeiting it are two different acts. Property can be taken at the scene on the same justification as any search, and keeping it takes a court.

Where it applies →

Frisk

Also called pat down, Terry frisk, patting me down

A pat of the outer clothing for weapons, allowed during a lawful stop when the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is armed and dangerous. It is a search for weapons, not for evidence.

What it is not

A frisk is not automatic with a stop. It needs its own justification on top of the one that supported the stop, and the two are separate questions.

Terry v. Ohio

Where it applies →

H

Hard time

Also called the waiting period, before i can get privileges

A period at the start of a suspension during which no court may grant limited driving privileges. Its length is set by which suspension it is.

What it is not

Not a court declining to help. It is a door that is not open yet, and filing a petition early does not shorten a window the statute has closed.

Where it applies →

Home rule

Also called city can make its own rules, municipal authority

The provision of the Ohio Constitution giving municipalities authority over their own local affairs. Where a state statute intrudes on that authority without an overriding state interest, it can be held unconstitutional as applied to a city.

What it is not

It is why an answer can differ between a city and a township in the same county, and why a state statute on the books is not always the rule a city is operating under.

Where it applies →

I

Instrumentality

Also called the car they used, the phone they used

Property that is lawful to own, used in or intended to be used in an offence. The statutory list includes a firearm, a vehicle, a computer, a telecommunications device, and money.

What it is not

Nothing about the item has to be illegal. What brings it within reach of a forfeiture is the use, which is why an ordinary car is in the same category as contraband once it has been driven to the wrong place.

Where it applies →

Interception

Also called wiretapping, recording a call, taping a conversation

The aural or other acquisition of the contents of a wire, oral or electronic communication using a device. Ohio permits it where one party to the communication consents.

What it is not

Not the same question as whether you may film something. The picture and the sound are governed by different statutes, and a recording that is lawful to make can still be unlawful to have made of a conversation you were never part of.

Where it applies →

Interfering, as distinct from recording

Also called obstruction while filming, they said i was interfering, too close

Obstructing official business needs an act that hampers or impedes a public official, done with the purpose of preventing or delaying the work. Recording is not that act.

What it is not

Words are not an act either, and speech that annoys or criticises an officer is protected. What can turn into the offence is the physical conduct around the recording, closing distance or refusing a lawful order about position, not the camera being on.

Where it applies →

Interrogation

Also called questioning, being asked questions

Express questioning, or words and actions an officer should know are reasonably likely to draw an incriminating response. Both halves count.

What it is not

A statement nobody asked for is not the product of interrogation, and the warnings do not reach it. Volunteered words are admissible whether or not anyone was warned.

Miranda v. Arizona

Where it applies →

Intervention in lieu of conviction

Also called ILC, treatment instead of a conviction

A statutory route where a court may stay the case and order treatment for an eligible defendant whose offence was related to a substance use disorder. Successful completion results in dismissal.

What it is not

It is granted at the court's discretion on statutory eligibility, and eligibility is defined by the offence and the history rather than by the request.

ORC 2951.041

Where it applies →

Inventory search

Also called they searched it when they towed it, impound search

A catalogue of the contents of an impounded vehicle, carried out under standard department procedure rather than on suspicion. Anything found is not excluded simply because nobody had probable cause.

What it is not

It is not a search for evidence and cannot be used as a cover for one. Its validity depends on the existence of a routine procedure and on the search following it.

South Dakota v. Opperman

Where it applies →

Investigative detention

Also called Terry stop, being detained, held up

A brief seizure of a person on reasonable suspicion, lasting only as long as it takes to confirm or dispel that suspicion. The person is not free to leave, and is not under arrest either.

What it is not

Detention is its own legal state, not a soft version of arrest. The rules that attach to an arrest, including the warnings, do not automatically attach here.

Where it applies →

Invoking counsel

Also called asking for a lawyer, i want an attorney, lawyer up

Stating unambiguously that you want a lawyer, which is what stops custodial questioning. Asking whether one is needed, or whether asking for one looks bad, is not the same as asking for one.

What it is not

Not something that has to be earned, explained or justified, and not a statement about guilt. It also does not undo anything already said, which is why the ordering matters more than the wording.

Where it applies →

Invoking the right

Also called pleading the fifth, asking for a lawyer, staying silent

Stating clearly that you are exercising the right to remain silent or the right to counsel. The right exists either way, but the protections that follow an invocation run from the moment it is stated.

What it is not

Silence alone is ambiguous. The law treats an unambiguous statement differently from simply not answering, which is a distinction about the words rather than about the person.

Where it applies →

J

Jury demand

Also called asking for a jury, demanding a jury

The written filing that gets a jury in a petty offense case. It goes to the clerk not less than ten days before the trial date, or on or before the third day after notice of that date, whichever is later.

What it is not

Not something a court asks about at a hearing. Crim.R. 23(A) calls the failure to demand a complete waiver of the right, so the jury is lost by a date passing rather than by anybody agreeing to lose it.

Ohio Crim.R. 23

Where it applies →

K

Knock and announce

Also called they have to knock first, announcing

The requirement that officers executing a warrant announce their presence and purpose and wait a reasonable time before forcing entry. Ohio states it by statute as well.

What it is not

The rule has exceptions, and a violation of it does not by itself make the evidence inadmissible in a federal court. The requirement and the remedy are two separate questions.

Where it applies →

L

Least restrictive conditions

Also called conditions of release, why is my bond so high, own recognisance

The standard a court applies to pretrial release. Conditions are to be the least restrictive ones that reasonably assure the person's appearance and the safety of the public.

What it is not

Not a rule that release is free. It is a ceiling on conditions rather than a floor, and a money amount is one condition among several the court can reach for, which is why the alternatives are worth naming out loud.

Where it applies →

Limited driving privileges

Also called work privileges, occupational privileges, driving privileges, can i drive to work

Permission from a court to drive on a limited basis during a suspension, granted on petition and subject to whatever conditions the court attaches.

What it is not

Not the suspension ending and not a right. Conditions can include a disabling device on the vehicle and, during an OVI suspension, restricted plates that have to be displayed.

Where it applies →

M

Major drug offender

Also called MDO, top tier

A specification attaching at the highest quantity tier of a drug offence. Where it applies, the court is required to impose the maximum term for the degree.

What it is not

It removes the range rather than raising it. At this tier there is no room left to argue about where inside the range the sentence lands.

Where it applies →

Minor misdemeanor

Also called MM, minor misdemeanour, just a ticket

The bottom rung of the Ohio code. No jail term at all, a fine capped at one hundred and fifty dollars, and a section that says an officer shall issue a citation rather than arrest unless one of four exceptions applies.

What it is not

Not a category without consequences. It is still a conviction when it is paid, and paying under division (C) is how it becomes one. The right to a jury trial does not reach it at all.

Where it applies →

N

No contest

Also called nolo contendere, nolo, not contesting it

A plea that admits the truth of the facts alleged rather than guilt. It leaves a pretrial ruling appealable and, as a rule, cannot be used against the person in a later civil or criminal proceeding.

What it is not

It is not a lighter sentence and it is not a way of avoiding a conviction. A court can find guilt and impose sentence on it. What it changes is what carries forward, not what happens that day.

Where it applies →

No duty to retreat

Also called stand your ground, dont have to run

A person has no duty to retreat before using force in self defence anywhere they lawfully are, and a court or jury may not consider the possibility of retreat in deciding whether the force was justified.

What it is not

It removes one requirement and leaves every other element of self defence in place. Lawfully there is doing real work in the sentence, and the provision says nothing about whether the force used was reasonable.

Where it applies →

Noneconomic loss

Also called pain and suffering, the non money part of a claim

The part of a damages award that is not out of pocket. The seat belt section keeps a failure to wear one out of the negligence question entirely, then allows a trier of fact to reduce a recovery of compensatory damages representing this and only this.

What it is not

It is not the medical bills and it is not the lost wages. People are usually told the first half of that provision, that not wearing a belt is not evidence of negligence, and not the second half, which has a real limit written into it.

ORC 4513.263

Where it applies →

Not guilty by reason of insanity

Also called NGRI, the insanity defense, insanity plea

A finding that at the time of the offence the person did not know, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, the wrongfulness of their acts. The person raising it carries the burden of proving it.

What it is not

Not a question about the person's condition today, and not satisfied by having a mental illness however serious. The definition asks one thing: whether they knew the wrongfulness at that moment.

Where it applies →

Notice of appeal

Also called filing an appeal, appealing it

The filing that starts an appeal, due within thirty days of the entry of a final order. Past that a criminal defendant may ask leave for a delayed appeal, setting out why the appeal as of right was never perfected.

What it is not

It is not the appeal itself and it is not a request for permission. It is a short filing on a hard deadline, and missing it is why a great many appellate arguments are never heard.

Where it applies →

O

Objective reasonableness

Also called the Graham test, reasonable force, was the force justified

The standard for force used during a stop or an arrest. Judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene at the moment, weighing the severity of the offence, any immediate threat, and whether the person was resisting or fleeing.

What it is not

Not a question about the officer's intentions, good or bad, and not a hindsight judgement with everything that came out later included. The calculus expressly allows for split second decisions in tense and rapidly changing circumstances.

Where it applies →

Oral communication

Also called a private conversation, what the wiretap law covers

Speech uttered by a person who is exhibiting an expectation that it is not being intercepted, in circumstances that justify the expectation. Both halves have to be present for the interception chapter to reach it.

What it is not

Not every spoken word near a microphone. Somebody who does not expect privacy, or who expects it unreasonably where they are standing, is not having an oral communication as the chapter defines it, and video with no sound is outside the chapter altogether.

ORC 2933.51

Where it applies →

Ordering occupants out

Also called step out of the car, get out of the vehicle

During a lawful traffic stop an officer may order the driver out of the vehicle, and may order the passengers out as well, without any additional suspicion.

What it is not

Being ordered out is not an arrest and is not evidence of anything. It is a category of order the law already permits on a lawful stop.

Where it applies →

P

Pattern of conduct

Also called two or more incidents, a course of conduct

Two or more actions or incidents closely related in time. It is the element that separates menacing by stalking from a single unpleasant encounter.

What it is not

Not a requirement that any single incident be an offence on its own. The pattern is the offence, which is also what a civil stalking protection order under section 2903.214 is built on.

Where it applies →

Per se limit

Also called the legal limit, point oh eight, over the limit

A concentration at or above which the prohibited amount itself is the offence, with no separate proof of impairment required. Ohio sets several, by substance and by test type.

What it is not

Being under a per se limit is not a defence to the impaired driving offence, which is charged on impairment rather than on a number.

ORC 4511.19

Where it applies →

Petty offense

Also called petty misdemeanor, small case, minor charge

A misdemeanour that is not a serious offense, meaning one whose penalty does not include confinement for more than six months. In a petty offense case the judge hears the trial unless a jury is demanded in writing.

What it is not

Petty is a category, not a comment on how much the case matters. A petty offense can carry jail, a record, and a licence consequence, and it is the level at which the jury right quietly disappears if nobody files.

Where it applies →

Physical control

Also called sleeping it off in the car, keys in the ignition

A separate Ohio offence covering being in the driver's position of a stationary vehicle with the keys or ignition, while under the influence. No movement is required.

What it is not

It is a different offence from OVI with a different degree, not a lesser way of charging the same thing.

ORC 4511.194

Where it applies →

Plain feel

Also called he felt something in my pocket

During a lawful weapons frisk, an object whose identity as contraband is immediately apparent from the pat itself may be seized. The knowledge has to come from the lawful pat, not from manipulating the object.

What it is not

Squeezing, sliding or rolling an object to work out what it is goes beyond the frisk, because the frisk was authorised to find weapons.

Terry v. Ohio

Where it applies →

Post release control

Also called PRC, parole, supervision after prison

Supervision by the adult parole authority after a prison term, required for some degrees and discretionary for others. Violations can carry additional prison time.

What it is not

It is not the same as parole in the older sense. It attaches to the end of a stated term rather than releasing someone early from one.

ORC 2967.28

Where it applies →

Predicate motor vehicle or traffic offense

Also called prior ticket, does this count against me, second ticket

A defined list of traffic sections in the definitions statute. One of them within a year turns a speeding violation from a minor misdemeanour into a fourth degree misdemeanour; two or more make it a third.

What it is not

It is not every piece of paper anybody has ever handed you. The definition names specific sections, so something outside the list does not escalate a later charge no matter how recent it was.

Where it applies →

Preemption

Also called statewide uniformity, can my city ban it

Where the state has occupied a subject, a local ordinance inconsistent with state law on it is unenforceable. Ohio's uniformity section covers firearms and, since September 2022, knives.

What it is not

It is not a general rule about cities. Where a subject is not preempted, home rule runs the other way and a municipality keeps its own authority, which is why traffic camera answers change between a city and a township and knife answers do not.

ORC 9.68

Where it applies →

Pretextual stop

Also called they only pulled me over because, profiling stop

A stop supported by an actual traffic violation but motivated by an unrelated interest. Where the violation exists, the officer's motive does not make the stop unlawful under the Fourth Amendment.

What it is not

This says nothing about equal protection, which is a different constitutional claim with a different standard and a different remedy.

Whren v. United States

Where it applies →

Pretrial motion

Also called motion to suppress, filing a motion, the motion

A request to the court decided before trial, a motion to suppress evidence among them. The rule puts all of them within thirty-five days after arraignment or seven days before trial, whichever is earlier.

What it is not

The deadline is not the trial date and it is not negotiable by silence. Failing to raise something that has to be raised before trial is a waiver in the rule's own words, and the court may grant relief from it for good cause rather than as of right.

Ohio Crim.R. 12

Where it applies →

Prima facie

Also called on its face, presumed, rebuttable

Established unless something is shown against it. Where a speed limit is prima facie, exceeding it makes out the violation and leaves room to show the speed was reasonable and proper for the conditions.

What it is not

Not the same as unlawful. Ohio has both kinds of limit in one section: the prima facie ones in divisions (B) and (C), and the absolute ones in division (D) where reasonableness is not the question at all.

ORC 4511.21

Where it applies →

Private tow away zone

Also called tow away zone, they towed me from the lot

Private property the owner has designated for towing by posting a sign of at least eighteen by twenty four inches, visible from every entrance, saying the property is a tow away zone and describing who may park there.

What it is not

Not any lot somebody wants cleared. The designation is what the statute builds the rest of the rules on, including where the car may be taken and what the towing service owes the owner afterwards.

ORC 4513.601

Where it applies →

Probable cause

Also called PC, enough to arrest, enough for a warrant

Facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe a crime has been committed and that this person committed it. It is the threshold for an arrest and for a search warrant.

What it is not

It is not proof and it is not certainty. It sits well below the beyond a reasonable doubt standard a conviction requires, which is why an arrest is not a finding of guilt.

Where it applies →

Public forum

Also called public property, where can i protest

A category of government property, such as a street or a park, where speech restrictions face the highest scrutiny. Other government property falls into categories where more restriction is permitted.

What it is not

Government property is not one thing. The same act can be protected on a sidewalk and restricted inside a building, because the forum category changed.

Where it applies →

Q

Qualified immunity

Also called QI, immunity, they cant be sued

A defence protecting an official sued individually unless the right they violated was clearly established at the time, meaning existing precedent had put the question beyond debate.

What it is not

It is not a finding that nothing wrong happened. A court can conclude force was unreasonable and still dismiss the claim because no earlier case had said so clearly enough, which is the criticism the doctrine draws.

Where it applies →

Qualified interpreter

Also called court interpreter, translator, asl interpreter

The interpreter a court appoints where a party or witness cannot readily understand or communicate because of a hearing, speech or other impairment. The appointment is the court's duty rather than something that has to be requested.

What it is not

Not limited to a person who speaks another language. The section expressly reaches a person with a developmental disability who cannot be reasonably understood, or cannot understand questioning, without one. And where the party taxed with costs is indigent, the fee is not taxed as costs at all.

Where it applies →

Qualifying adult

Also called permitless carry, constitutional carry

A person twenty one or older who is not prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law. Ohio permits a qualifying adult to carry concealed without a licence.

What it is not

Permitless does not mean unrestricted. The prohibited places, the disability rules and the duty to disclose all continue to apply exactly as they did.

ORC 2923.111

Where it applies →

R

Reasonable expectation of privacy

Also called expectation of privacy, REP, somewhere private

Whether a person expected privacy in a place or thing and whether society recognises that expectation. It is the threshold question for whether something counts as a search at all.

What it is not

Not a question about ownership. An overnight guest has one in somebody else's home, and a person can lose one in their own property by exposing it to the public. Who holds the deed is a different question.

Where it applies →

Reasonable modification

Also called accommodation, making an exception for a disability

A change to a policy, practice or procedure that a public entity must make where the change is needed to avoid discriminating on the basis of disability. A police department is a public entity.

What it is not

It is not unlimited. The duty stops where the change would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, and separately where the person poses a direct threat that no modification can eliminate.

Where it applies →

Reasonable suspicion

Also called RS, articulable suspicion, enough to stop me

Specific facts an officer can put into words that point to a particular person being involved in a particular crime. It is the threshold for a brief investigative stop.

What it is not

It is not a hunch, and it is not a neighborhood. The standard is named for the requirement that the officer be able to articulate it afterwards, which is the part that gets tested in court.

Where it applies →

Reciprocal discovery

Also called it goes both ways, what i have to turn over

The defendant's duty to provide the state the same categories of material, triggered by having demanded discovery in the first place.

What it is not

A public records request is not a way around it. The Ohio Supreme Court held that a request by an accused for information obtainable through discovery is the equivalent of a discovery demand and triggers the duty the same way.

Where it applies →

Replevin

Also called suing to get it back, action for return of property

A civil action to recover specific property from whoever is holding it. Where a hardship petition is not filed in time or is not granted, it is one of the routes the forfeiture chapter leaves open.

What it is not

It is a civil case the owner files, not something the criminal court does on its own. Nothing about a criminal case ending returns property by itself.

ORC 2981.03

Where it applies →

Reviewing official

Also called who looks at my affidavit, the official who reviews it

The person a private citizen's charging affidavit goes to for review. A judge of a court of record, the prosecuting attorney or the attorney charged by law with prosecution there, or a magistrate.

What it is not

Filing with a reviewing official is not the same as a charge being filed. The review decides whether a complaint should be filed, which is what the section's own heading says.

ORC 2935.09

Where it applies →

S

School safety zone

Also called school property, school grounds, near a school

A school building, the premises of a school, a school activity and a school bus. The zone is what the offence attaches to rather than the building alone.

What it is not

Wider than a school building, and it travels: a school activity held somewhere else is inside it. The knife carve out written for another section does not reach this one, which still runs on the general deadly weapon definition.

Where it applies →

Sealing and expungement

Also called getting it off my record, expunged, cleared

Statutory routes to restrict or destroy the record of a case. Sealing closes the record to most viewers; expungement is the destruction of it. Eligibility depends on the offence and on time elapsed.

What it is not

Neither happens automatically when a case ends. Both require an application, and a dismissed case is not the same as a sealed one.

Where it applies →

Search incident to arrest

Also called searched me when they cuffed me

A search of the arrested person and the area within their reach, permitted automatically on a lawful arrest to protect officers and preserve evidence.

What it is not

It does not reach the data on a phone. Searching the physical device for a weapon is one thing, and reading what is on it generally requires a warrant.

Where it applies →

Secondary enforcement

Also called not a reason to pull you over, cannot stop you for it alone

A violation an officer may cite but may not stop a vehicle for on its own. Ohio's occupant restraint section is written this way, and it bars the stop, the citation for that sole purpose, and viewing the interior for that sole purpose.

What it is not

It does not make the conduct lawful and it does not survive an independent reason for the stop. Once a car is stopped for something else, the belt is simply there to be seen. The word doing all the work in the provision is sole.

ORC 4513.263

Where it applies →

Seizure of a person

Also called stopped, not free to leave

The moment a person is no longer free to leave, by physical force or by a show of authority they submit to. Everything the Fourth Amendment requires starts counting from that moment.

What it is not

A passenger is seized by a traffic stop just as the driver is, even though nobody spoke to the passenger and the passenger was not driving.

Where it applies →

Serious offense

Also called serious offence, jury case

Any felony, and any misdemeanour whose penalty includes confinement for more than six months. A jury is the default here, and letting it go takes a written, signed, filed waiver made in open court.

What it is not

Not a description of how bad the conduct was. The line is the possible penalty, which means the same conduct can sit on either side of it depending on the degree charged.

Where it applies →

Speedy trial time

Also called the speedy trial clock, time for trial, my speedy

The number of days Ohio gives the state to bring a person to trial, counted from arrest or service of summons. Thirty for a minor misdemeanour, forty five, ninety, and two hundred and seventy for a felony.

What it is not

Not a vague sense that a case is taking too long. It is a count in days, and it is a different question from the constitutional speedy trial test, which uses its own factors and no numbers at all.

Where it applies →

T

The equipment basis

Also called pretext stop, they stopped me for a bulb, fix it ticket

An equipment provision used as the lawful basis for a stop. A plate light that does not render the plate legible from fifty feet, a missing headlight, glass below the transmittance the administrative rule sets.

What it is not

Arguing about the officer's motive does not reach it, because Whren holds motive does not change whether the stop was reasonable. What does reach it is the measurement, since every one of these provisions is written as a number somebody can be shown to have met.

Where it applies →

The mission of the stop

Also called the Rodriguez moment, prolonging the stop

The tasks that address the reason for the stop and attend to related safety concerns. A stop may last no longer than it takes to complete them, and adding unrelated investigation beyond that point is a separate seizure requiring its own justification.

What it is not

There is no free window of extra minutes. The measure is whether the stop was prolonged at all beyond its mission, not whether the delay was short.

Rodriguez v. United States

Where it applies →

The self defence presumption

Also called castle doctrine, presumed self defense, they broke in

A person is presumed to have acted in self defence when using force against somebody unlawfully entering, or having unlawfully entered, their residence or occupied vehicle. Ohio also puts the burden on the state to disprove self defence once the issue is raised.

What it is not

A presumption is rebuttable rather than a rule that ends the question. It also does not travel: it attaches to a residence and an occupied vehicle, not to anywhere a person happens to be standing, which is the separate no duty to retreat provision.

Where it applies →

Time, place and manner

Also called permit rules, protest restrictions

Restrictions on when, where and how speech occurs, permitted in a public forum where they are content neutral, narrowly tailored to a significant interest, and leave open other channels.

What it is not

Content neutral is the operative word. A rule that applies to everyone regardless of message is judged differently from one that turns on what is being said.

Where it applies →

Tolling

Also called stopping the clock, the clock is paused, extending time

A period that pushes the trial deadline out rather than counting against it. Section 2945.72 lists them, and several belong to the accused, including a continuance granted on their own motion.

What it is not

Not a pause only the state can cause. A motion the defence files, and a continuance the defence asks for, extend the limit by that period, which is why a long docket does not automatically mean a violation.

ORC 2945.72

Where it applies →

Triple count

Also called three for one, the 3 for 1 rule

Each day a person is held in jail in lieu of bail on the pending charge counts as three days against the speedy trial count. It turns a felony's two hundred and seventy days into ninety.

What it is not

It is not jail time credit against a sentence, which is a separate thing entirely. It also does not apply to somebody held on something else at the same time, because the Ohio Supreme Court reads it as reaching only a person held solely on the pending charge.

Where it applies →

U

Under colour of state law

Also called color of law, acting as an officer, section 1983 claim

The condition that makes a federal civil rights claim available. Somebody exercising power they have because of their public office, whether or not they were following the rules of that office.

What it is not

A section 1983 claim is a lawsuit the person files, not a complaint to a department and not something a prosecutor brings. In Ohio it carries the state's two year personal injury limit, counted from the event rather than from the end of a criminal case.

Where it applies →

Unit dose

Also called pills, doses, counted not weighed

A single measured quantity as prepared for use. For some substances the tables run on doses as an alternative to weight, and whichever tier is reached first applies.

What it is not

Counting units is not a lighter measure than weighing. For heroin and fentanyl related compounds it is a parallel ladder with its own thresholds.

Where it applies →

W

Weapons under disability

Also called WUD, felon with a gun, prohibited person

A separate felony for possessing a firearm while in one of the listed categories, which include certain convictions, certain pending indictments, and certain findings.

What it is not

For the violence and drug categories, being under indictment triggers it. A case that is still open, not only a case that ended in conviction, can create the disability.

Where it applies →

Read this first — definitions, not applications. Whether a word describes what happened in a particular case is exactly the question a licensed Ohio attorney answers and a glossary cannot. Current as of September 2026.