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OFCC Sues City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio The sign you see here is posted in Cleveland Heights Parks implying possession of a firearm is a crime. On Friday August 12th, 2011 Ohioans For Concealed Carry Filed a lawsuit against the City the City of Cleveland Heights. The litigation comes after many attempts to resolve concerns over laws that Cleveland Heights not only allowed to remain on their books, but also posted signs at their parks that continue to imply it is illegal to be armed. The City of Cleveland Heights has chosen to ignore our attempts at civil discourse. When individuals have contacted them representing themselves as residents of the City of Cleveland Heights their concerns apparently fell on deaf ears. When representatives of the organization have formally contacted the city's legal representation they've been laughed at and hung up on by the Law Director. It is this arrogance and refusal to work with Ohioans For Concealed Carry that has forced us to seek a remedy through the courts.
Our press release follows. Read the Full Story
Canton PD Event Leads to New OFCC Legislation When officer Harless of the Canton, Ohio police department came upon a vehicle stopped in the roadway most of us were focused on getting restaurant carry legislation signed into law. What took place that evening has become an international viral video, calls for the resignation of the City Council president, and criminal charges against a man who is clearly heard trying to state that he has a license. Ohioans For Concealed Carry has not just raised thousands of dollars in a legal defense fund, but we've written legislation to resolve this matter that Representative Danny Bubp has stated he's going to introduce this fall Read the Full Story

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Judge drops failure to inform charges against Bartlett

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Published on Thursday, 10 November 2011 01:43
Written by Jeff Garvas
The City of Canton, Ohio followed through with their criminal charges against William Bartlett today. After nearly two hours of motions and jury selection the trial was underway. OFCC was in the courtroom live blogging the events of the day on our website.

The Jury wasn't permitted to see the entire traffic stop, which Ohioans For Concealed Carry leaked to the public in late July of this past summer here: Canton Failure To Notify Dash Camera Footage

What followed was a desperate attempt by the Prosecutor's office to obfuscate Bartlett's attempt to notify. In fact, at one point in the trial the prosecutor lowered the audio on the television playing the dash camera footage. After the portion of the stop where Bartlett states "I have a conceal..." she walked around the television and turned the volume back up.

After the prosecution rested their case the jury was excused. Defense Attorney Tim Bellew made a motion to dismiss, or a "Criminal Rule 29" motion for acquittal. The judge eventually ruled in favor of this motion which has been explained to us as a conclusion that the state didn't meet it's burden of proof - the defense didn't even need to put on a trial and the jury didn't need to consider anything, the Judge threw the concealed carry charges out. As we've said all along, this shouldn't have gone to trial to begin with.

Finally, the judge stated that there was a charge of stopping in the roadway. A plea of no contest was entered and Bartlett was found guilty. He is to pay court costs (for the non-jury portion of the trial) and a fee not to exceed $150.

Following is the news media coverage of this case by Fox 8 in Cleveland Ohio: