A U.S. district court judge last Thursday struck down a city law banning individuals arrested on drug charges from traveling through public streets in an exclusive neighborhood near downtown Cincinnati.
The banishment period of 90 days following an arrest, and a full year for a conviction, became law in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in 1996. If an individual arrested or convicted of a drug offense was found in the area, they were subject to immediate arrest for criminal trespass, an offense that carries a maximum fine of $250 and 90 days in jail.
U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott struck down the law, declaring it unconstitutional on freedom of association, double jeopardy and freedom of movement grounds. Judge Dlott said the ordinance violates the right to travel and “classifies conduct that clearly ought to be legal, as criminal trespass.”
In June of 1998, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio Foundation filed a lawsuit to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional after Patricia Johnson had been arrested for marijuana trafficking, but never indicted. She was charged with criminal trespass, a charge that was later dropped, after being found in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood a few weeks after her marijuana arrest.
“This decision by Judge Dlott has the effect of telling cities that courts will not tolerate the sweeping of ‘undesirable’ citizens from public areas,” said Scott Greenwood, Esq., ACLU of Ohio General Counsel. “Too many times, cities pass such laws that unnecessarily infringe upon the rights of others and offend the Bill of Rights. This law was a perfect example of a knee-jerk solution to a much larger problem.”
For more information, please contact Scott Greenwood, Esq., ACLU of Ohio General Counsel at (513) 943-4200 or Gino Scarselli, Esq., ACLU of Ohio Associate Legal Director at (216) 781-8479.
