# PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE — Part Overview

# PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE

<table id="bkmrk-document-typepart-id"><tbody><tr><th>Document type</th><td>part</td></tr><tr><th>Identifier</th><td>FIVE</td></tr><tr><th>Citation</th><td>Part FIVE</td></tr><tr><th>Ordinances detected</th><td>S, 116-84, OR, ERS, INANCE, NANCE</td></tr><tr><th>Original source</th><td>[American Legal Publishing](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/sheffieldlake/latest/sheffieldlake_oh/0-0-0-8821)</td></tr><tr><th>Content hash</th><td>`677aae7f2044a8917da3e42f40aed02062e6a8b836c03bbf443df11a752eb7c2`</td></tr></tbody></table>

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2025-04 (current)  
Sheffield Lake Overview  
Codified Ordinances of Sheffield Lake, OH  
CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF SHEFFIELD LAKE, OHIO  
CERTIFICATION  
ROSTER OF OFFICIALS  
ADOPTING ORDINANCE NO. 116-84  
COMPARATIVE SECTION TABLE  
TABLES OF SPECIAL ORDINANCES OF SHEFFIELD LAKE  
CHARTER  
PART ONE - ADMINISTRATIVE CODE  
PART THREE - TRAFFIC CODE  
PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE  
CHAPTER 501 General Provisions and Penalty  
CHAPTER 505 Animals and Fowl  
CHAPTER 509 Disorderly Conduct and Peace Disturbance  
CHAPTER 513 Drug Abuse Control  
CHAPTER 517 Gambling  
CHAPTER 521 Health, Safety and Sanitation  
CHAPTER 525 Law Enforcement and Public Office  
CHAPTER 529 Liquor Control  
CHAPTER 531 Noise Control  
CHAPTER 533 Obscenity and Sex Offenses  
CHAPTER 537 Offenses Against Persons  
CHAPTER 541 Property Offenses  
CHAPTER 545 Theft and Fraud  
CHAPTER 549 Weapons and Explosives  
CHAPTER 553 Railroads  
CHAPTER 557 Watercraft  
CHAPTER 561 Weeds and Grass  
PART SEVEN - BUSINESS REGULATION CODE  
PART NINE - STREETS, UTILITIES AND PUBLIC SERVICES CODE  
PART ELEVEN - PLANNING AND ZONING CODE  
PART THIRTEEN - BUILDING CODE  
PART FIFTEEN - FIRE PREVENTION CODE  
OH  
Sheffield Lake  
Codified Ordinances of Sheffield Lake, OH  
PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE  
PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE  
PART FIVE - GENERAL OFFENSES CODE  
Chap. 501. General Provisions and Penalty.  
Chap. 505. Animals and Fowl.  
Chap. 509. Disorderly Conduct and Peace Disturbance.  
Chap. 513. Drug Abuse Control.  
Chap. 517. Gambling.  
Chap. 521. Health, Safety and Sanitation.  
Chap. 525. Law Enforcement and Public Office.  
Chap. 529. Liquor Control.  
Chap. 531. Noise Control.  
Chap. 533. Obscenity and Sex Offenses.  
Chap. 537. Offenses Against Persons.  
Chap. 541. Property Offenses.  
Chap. 545. Theft and Fraud.  
Chap. 549. Weapons and Explosives.  
Chap. 553. Railroads.  
Chap. 557. Watercraft.  
Chap. 561. Weeds and Grass.  
CHAPTER 501  
General Provisions and Penalty  
501.01 Definitions.  
501.02 Classification of offenses.  
501.03 Common law offenses abrogated.  
501.04 Rules of construction.  
501.05 Criminal law jurisdiction.  
501.06 Limitation of criminal prosecution.  
501.07 Requirements for criminal liability.  
501.08 Culpable mental states.  
501.09 Attempt.  
501.10 Complicity.  
501.11 Organizational criminal liability.  
501.12 Personal accountability for organizational conduct.  
501.13 Electronically monitored house arrest.  
501.14 Conspiracy.  
501.99 Penalties for misdemeanors.  
   
CROSS REFERENCES  
See sectional histories for similar State law  
Limitation of prosecution for income tax violations - see Ohio R.C. 718.06  
Modification of sentence - see Ohio R.C. 2929.10(C), (D)  
Penalty considerations - see Ohio R.C. 2929.22  
Citation issuance for minor misdemeanors - see Ohio R.C. 2935.26 et seq.  
   
   
501.01 DEFINITIONS.  
 As used in the Codified Ordinances:  
 (a) "Force" means any violence, compulsion or constraint physically exerted by any means upon or against a person or thing.  
 (b) "Deadly force" means any force that carries a substantial risk that it will proximately result in the death of any person.  
 (c) "Physical harm to persons" means any injury, illness or other physiological impairment, regardless of its gravity or duration.  
 (d) "Physical harm to property" means any tangible or intangible damage to property that, in any degree, results in loss to its value or interferes with its use or enjoyment. "Physical harm to property" does not include wear and tear occasioned by normal use.  
 (e) "Serious physical harm to persons" means any of the following:  
 (1) Any mental illness or condition of such gravity as would normally require hospitalization or prolonged psychiatric treatment;  
 (2) Any physical harm that carries a substantial risk of death;  
 (3) Any physical harm that involves some permanent incapacity, whether partial or total, or that involves some temporary, substantial incapacity;  
 (4) Any physical harm that involves some permanent disfigurement, or that involves some temporary, serious disfigurement;  
 (5) Any physical harm that involves acute pain of such duration as to result in substantial suffering, or that involves any degree of prolonged or intractable pain.  
 (f) "Serious physical harm to property" means any physical harm to property that does either of the following:  
 (1) Results in substantial loss to the value of the property, or requires a substantial amount of time, effort or money to repair or replace;  
 (2) Temporarily prevents the use or enjoyment of the property, or substantially interferes with its use and enjoyment for an extended period of time.  
 (g) "Risk" means a significant possibility, as contrasted with a remote possibility, that a certain result may occur or that certain circumstances may exist.  
 (h) "Substantial risk" means a strong possibility, as contrasted with a remote or significant possibility, that a certain result may occur or that certain circumstances may exist.  
 (i) "Offense of violence" means any of the following:  
 (1) A violation of Ohio R.C. 2903.01, 2903.02, 2903.03, 2903.04, 2903.11, 2903.12, 2903.13, 2903.15, 2903.18, 2903.21, 2903.211, 2903.22, 2905.01, 2905.02, 2905.11, 2905.32, 2907.02, 2907.03, 2907.05, 2909.02, 2909.03, 2909.24, 2911.01, 2911.02, 2911.11, 2917.01, 2917.02, 2917.03, 2917.31, 2917.321, 2919.25, 2921.03, 2921.04, 2921.34, 2923.161, 2903.34(A)(1), 2911.12(A)(1) to (3) or 2919.22(B)(1) to (4), or felonious sexual penetration in violation of former Ohio R.C. 2907.12;  
 (2) A violation of an existing or former municipal ordinance or law of this or any other state or the United States, substantially equivalent to any section listed in subsection (i)(1) hereof;  
 (3) An offense, other than a traffic offense, under an existing or former municipal ordinance or law of this or any other state or the United States, committed, purposely or knowingly, and involving physical harm to persons or a risk of serious physical harm to persons;  
 (4) A conspiracy or attempt to commit, or complicity in committing any offense under subsection (i)(1), (2) or (3) hereof.  
 (5) A violation of division (C) of Ohio R.C. 959.131.  
 (j) (1) "Property" means any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, and any interest or license in that property. "Property" includes, but is not limited to, cable television service, other telecommunications service, telecommunications devices, information service, computers, data, computer software, financial instruments associated with computers, other documents associated with computers, or copies of the documents, whether in machine or human readable form, trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, patents, and property protected by a trademark, copyright, or patent. “Financial instruments associated with computers” include, but are not limited to, checks, drafts, warrants, money orders, notes of indebtedness, certificates of deposit, letters of credit, bills of credit or debit cards, financial transaction authorization mechanisms, marketable securities, or any computer system representations of any of them.  
 (2) As used in this section, “trade secret” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 1333.61, and “telecommunications service” and “information service” have the same meanings as in Ohio R.C. 2913.01.  
 (3) As used in this section, “cable television service”, “computer”, “computer software”, “computer system”, “computer network”, “data”, and “telecommunications device” have the same meanings as in Ohio R.C. 2913.01.  
 (k) "Law enforcement officer" means any of the following:  
 (1) A sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, police officer of a township or joint police district, marshal, deputy marshal, municipal police officer, member of a police force employed by a metropolitan housing authority under Ohio R.C. 3735.31(D) or State highway patrol trooper;  
 (2) An officer, agent or employee of the State or any of its agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions, upon whom, by statute, Charter or ordinance, a duty to conserve the peace or to enforce all or certain laws is imposed and the authority to arrest violators is conferred, within the limits of that statutory duty and authority;  
 (3) A mayor or manager in the mayor’s or manager’s capacity as chief conservator of the peace within the mayor’s or manager’s municipal corporation;  
 (4) A member of an auxiliary police force organized by county, township or municipal law enforcement authorities, within the scope of the member's appointment or commission;  
 (5) A person lawfully called pursuant to Ohio R.C. 311.07 to aid a sheriff in keeping the peace, for the purposes and during the time when the person is called;  
 (6) A person appointed by a mayor pursuant to Ohio R.C. 737.10 as a special patrolling officer during riot or emergency, for the purposes and during the time when the person is appointed;  
 (7) A member of the organized militia of this State or the armed forces of the United States, lawfully called to duty to aid civil authorities in keeping the peace or protect against domestic violence;  
 (8) A prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting attorney, secret service officer or municipal prosecutor;  
 (9) A veterans' home police officer appointed under Ohio R.C. 5907.02;  
 (10) A member of a police force employed by a regional transit authority under Ohio R.C. 306.35(Y);  
 (11) A special police officer employed by a port authority under Ohio R.C. 4582.04 or 4582.28;  
 (12) The Senate Sergeant of Arms and or Assistant Sergeant at Arms;  
 (13) A special police officer employed by a municipal corporation at a municipal airport, or other municipal air navigation facility, that has scheduled operations, as defined in Section 119.3 of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, 14 C.F.R. 119.3, as amended, and that is required to be under a security program and is governed by aviation security rules of the transportation security administration of the United States Department of Transportation as provided in Parts 1542 and 1544 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as amended.  
 (l) "Privilege" means an immunity, license or right conferred by law, or bestowed by express or implied grant, or arising out of status, position, office or relationship, or growing out of necessity.  
 (m) "Contraband" means any property that is illegal for a person to acquire or possess under a statute, ordinance, or rule, or that a trier of fact lawfully determines to be illegal to possess by reason of the property’s involvement in an offense. “Contraband” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:  
 (1) Any controlled substance, as defined in Ohio R.C. 3719.01, or any device, or paraphernalia;  
 (2) Any unlawful gambling device, or paraphernalia;  
 (3) Any dangerous ordnance or obscene material.  
 (n) “A person is “not guilty by reason of insanity” relative to a charge of an offense only if the person proves, in the manner specified in Ohio R.C. 2901.05, that at the time of the commission of the offense, the person did not know, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, the wrongfulness of the person’s acts.  
 (o) (1) A. Subject to subsection (o)(2) hereof, as used in any section contained in Part Five - General Offenses Code that sets forth a criminal offense, “person” includes all of the following:  
 1. An individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association;  
 2. An unborn human who is viable.  
 B. As used in any section contained in Part Five - General Offenses Code that does not set forth a criminal offense, “person” includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership and association.  
 C. As used in subsection (o)(1)A. hereof:  
 1. “Unborn human” means an individual organism of the species Homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.  
 2. “Viable” means the stage of development of a human fetus at which there is a realistic possibility of maintaining and nourishing of a life outside the womb with or without temporary artificial life-sustaining support.  
 (2) Notwithstanding subsection (o)(1)A. hereof, in no case shall the portion of the definition of the term “person” that is set forth in subsection (o)(1)A.2. hereof be applied or construed in any section contained in Part Five - General Offenses Code that sets forth a criminal offense in any of the following manners:  
 A. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (o)(2)A. hereof, in a manner so that the offense prohibits or is construed as prohibiting any pregnant woman or her physician from performing an abortion with the consent of the pregnant woman, with the consent of the pregnant woman implied by law in a medical emergency, or with the approval of one otherwise authorized by law to consent to medical treatment on behalf of the pregnant woman. An abortion that violates the conditions described in the immediately preceding sentence may be punished as a violation of Ohio R.C. 2903.01, 2903.02, 2903.03, 2903.04, 2903.05, 2903.06, 2903.08, 2903.11, 2903.12, 2903.13, 2903.14, 2903.21, or 2903.22, as applicable. An abortion that does not violate the conditions described in the second immediately preceding sentence, but that does violate Ohio R.C. 2919.12, division (B) of Ohio R.C. 2919.13, or Ohio R.C. 2919.151, 2919.17 or 2919.18, may be punished as a violation of Ohio R.C. 2919.12, division (B) of Ohio R.C. 2919.13, or Ohio R.C. 2919.151, 2919.17 or 2919.18, as applicable. Consent is sufficient under this subsection if it is of the type otherwise adequate to permit medical treatment to the pregnant woman, even if it does not comply with Ohio R.C. 2919.12.  
 B. In a manner so that the offense is applied or is construed as applying to a woman based on an act or omission of the woman that occurs while she is or was pregnant and that results in any of the following:  
 1. Her delivery of a stillborn baby;  
 2. Her causing, in any other manner, the death in utero of a viable, unborn human that she is carrying;  
 3. Her causing the death of her child who is born alive but who dies from one or more injuries that are sustained while the child is a viable, unborn human;  
 4. Her causing her child who is born alive to sustain one or more injuries while the child is a viable, unborn human;  
 5. Her causing, threatening to cause, or attempting to cause, in any other manner, an injury, illness or other physiological impairment, regardless of its duration or gravity, or a mental illness or condition, regardless of its duration or gravity, to a viable, unborn human that she is carrying.  
 (p) “School safety zone” consists of a school, school building, school premises, school activity, and school bus.  
 (q) “School”, “school building” and “school premises” have the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2925.01.  
 (r) “School activity” means any activity held under the auspices of a board of education of a city, local, exempted village, joint vocational, or cooperative education school district; a governing authority of a community school established under Ohio R.C. Chapter 3314; a governing board of an educational service center; or the governing body of a nonpublic school for which the Ohio Director of Education and Workforce prescribes minimum standards under Ohio R.C. 3301.07.  
 (s) “School bus” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 4511.01.  
 (ORC 2901.01)

Disclaimer: This Code of Ordinances and/or any other documents that appear on this site may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the Municipality. American Legal Publishing provides these documents for informational purposes only. These documents should not be relied upon as the definitive authority for local legislation. Additionally, the formatting and pagination of the posted documents varies from the formatting and pagination of the official copy. The official printed copy of a Code of Ordinances should be consulted prior to any action being taken.

For further information regarding the official version of any of this Code of Ordinances or other documents posted on this site, please contact the Municipality directly or contact American Legal Publishing toll-free at 800-445-5588.

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## Detected legislative history

- Ordinances of Sheffield Lake, OH
- ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF SHEFFIELD LAKE, OHIO
- ORDINANCE NO. 116-84
- ORDINANCES OF SHEFFIELD LAKE
- orderly Conduct and Peace Disturbance
- Ordinances:
- ordinance or law of this or any other state or the United States, substantially equivalent to any section listed in subsection (i)(1) hereof;
- ordinance or law of this or any other state or the United States, committed, purposely or knowingly, and involving physical harm to persons or a risk of serious physical harm to persons;
- orders, notes of indebtedness, certificates of deposit, letters of credit, bills of credit or debit cards, financial transaction authorization mechanisms, marketable securities, or an
- ordinance, a duty to conserve the peace or to enforce all or certain laws is imposed and the authority to arrest violators is conferred, within the limits of that statutory duty and authori
- amended, and that is required to be under a security program and is governed by aviation security rules of the transportation security administration of the United States Department of Tr
- amended
- ordinance, or rule, or that a trier of fact lawfully determines to be illegal to possess by reason of the property’s involvement in an offense
- ordnance or obscene material
- Ordinances and/or any other documents that appear on this site may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the Municipality
- Ordinances should be consulted prior to any action being taken
- Ordinances or other documents posted on this site, please contact the Municipality directly or contact American Legal Publishing toll-free at 800-445-5588

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*Imported automatically by MunicipalWiki. The original publisher remains the authoritative source pending legal normalization and verification.*