(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) hereof, sections of the Park District Regulations defining offenses or penalties shall be strictly construed against the Park District and liberally construed in favor of the accused.
(b) Rules of criminal procedure and sections of the Ohio Revised Code providing for criminal procedure shall be construed so as to effect the fair, impartial, speedy and sure administration of justice.
(c) Any provision of a section of the Park District Regulations that refers to a previous conviction of or plea of guilty to a violation of a section of the Park District Regulations or Ohio Revised Code or of a division of a section of the Park District Regulations or Ohio Revised Code shall be construed to also refer to a previous conviction of or plea of guilty to a substantially equivalent offense under an existing or former law of this State, another state, or the United States or under an existing or former municipal ordinance or park district regulation.
(d) Any provision of the Park District Regulations that refers to a section, or to a division of a section, of the Park District Regulations that defines or specifies a criminal offense shall be construed to also refer to an existing or former law of this State, another state, or the United States, to an existing or former municipal ordinance, park district regulation or to an existing or former division of any such existing or former law, ordinance or regulation that defines or specifies, or that defined or specified, a substantially equivalent offense.
(ORC 2901.04)
(ORC 2901.04)