Cases | 2007-Ohio-3374(Ohio Ct. App. 2007) | 2018
The defendant was convicted of complicity to theft and complicity to breaking and entering following a theft of $4,877 worth of cigarettes from a gas station. The defendant was ordered to pay restitution in the full amount of the cigarettes’ value. The defendant appealed, arguing the order was improper because the defendant bore the entire burden of the restitution even though the crime was committed with two accomplices who were neither charged nor tried with the defendant. The defendant claimed that: 1) the restitution order should be split proportionally among the three; 2) the order represented an unjust taking under the Fifth Amendment; and 3) the order violated the defendant’s equal protection rights. The appellate court held the state law requires only that the restitution amount reflect the economic loss suffered by the victim and not that the amount be allocated, equally or otherwise, to the various offenders. Additionally, the court held the defendant’s constitutional concerns were without merit as both require speculation as to the possibility of redundant restitution orders. The order of restitution was affirmed.