(a) Except as provided under subsection (b) hereof and Sections 335.072 and 335.074, no person whose driver’s or commercial driver’s license or permit or nonresident operating privilege has been suspended under any provision of the Ohio Revised Code, other than Ohio R.C. Chapter 4509, or under any applicable law in any other jurisdiction in which the person’s license or permit was issued shall operate any motor vehicle upon the public roads and highways or upon any public or private property used by the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking within this Municipality during the period of suspension unless the person is granted limited driving privileges and is operating the vehicle in accordance with the terms of the limited driving privileges.
(b) No person shall operate any motor vehicle upon a highway or any public or private property used by the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking in this Municipality in violation of any restriction of the person’s driver’s or commercial driver’s license or permit imposed under division (D) of Ohio R.C. 4506.10 or under Ohio R.C. 4507.14.
(c) Upon the request or motion of the prosecuting authority, a noncertified copy of the law enforcement automated data system report or a noncertified copy of a record of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles that shows the name, date of birth, and social security number of a person charged with a violation of subsection (a) or (b) of this section may be admitted into evidence as prima-facie evidence that the license of the person was under suspension at the time of the alleged violation of subsection (a) of this section or the person operated a motor vehicle in violation of a restriction at the time of the alleged violation of subsection (b) of this section. The person charged with a violation of subsection (a) or (b) of this section may offer evidence to rebut this prima-facie evidence.
(d) Whoever violates subsection (a) or (b) hereof, is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor. When the offense is an unclassified misdemeanor, the offender shall be sentenced pursuant to Ohio R.C. 2929.21 to 2929.28, except that the offender shall not be sentenced to a jail term; the offender shall not be sentenced to a community residential sanction pursuant to Ohio R.C. 2929.26; notwithstanding division (a)(2)(A) of Ohio R.C. 2929.28, the offender may be fined up to one thousand dollars ($1,000); and, notwithstanding division (A)(3) of Ohio R.C. 2929.27, the offender may be ordered pursuant to division (C) of that section to serve a term of community service of up to five hundred hours. The failure of an offender to complete a term of community service imposed by the court may be punished as indirect criminal contempt under division (A) of Ohio R.C. 2705.02 that may be filed in the underlying case.
(e) The offender shall provide the court with proof of financial responsibility as defined in Ohio R.C. 4509.01. If the offender fails to provide that proof of financial responsibility, then, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, the court may order restitution pursuant to Ohio R.C. 2929.28 in an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000) for any economic loss arising from an accident or collision that was the direct and proximate result of the offender’s operation of the vehicle before, during, or after committing the offense for which the offender is sentenced under this section.
(f) Any person whose driver's or commercial driver's license or permit or nonresident operating privileges are suspended as a repeat traffic offender under this section and who, during the suspension, operates any motor vehicle upon any public roads and highways is guilty of driving under a twelve-point suspension, a misdemeanor of the first degree. The court shall sentence the offender to a minimum term of three days in jail. No court shall suspend the first three days of jail time imposed pursuant to this subsection.
(Ord. 2013-16. Passed 7-22-13.)
(g) It is an affirmative defense to any prosecution brought under this section that the alleged offender drove under suspension, without a valid permit or driver’s or commercial driver’s license, or in violation of a restriction because of a substantial emergency, and because no other person was reasonably available to drive in response to the emergency.
(ORC 4510.04)