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   501.06 LIMITATION OF CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
   (a)   Except as otherwise provided in this section, a prosecution shall be barred unless it is commenced within the following periods after an offense is committed:
      (1)   For misdemeanor other than a minor misdemeanor, two years;
      (2)   For a minor misdemeanor, six months.
   (b)   If the period of limitation provided in subsection (a) hereof has expired, prosecution shall be commenced for an offense of which an element is fraud or breach of a fiduciary duty, within one year after discovery of the offense either by an aggrieved person, or by his legal representative who is not himself a party to the offense.
   (c)   (1)   If the period of limitation provided in this section has expired, prosecution shall be commenced for the following offenses during the following specified periods of time:
         A.   For an offense involving misconduct in office by a public servant at any time while the accused remains a public servant, or within two years thereafter;
         B.   For an offense by a person who is not a public servant but whose offense is directly related to the misconduct in office of a public servant, at any time while that public servant remains a public servant, or within two years thereafter.
      (2)   As used in this subsection:
         A.   An “offense is directly related to the misconduct in office of a public servant” includes, but is not limited to, a violation of Ohio R.C. 101.71, 101.91, 121.61 or 2921.13, division (F) or (H) of Ohio R.C. 102.03, division (A) of Ohio R.C. 2921.02, division (A) or (B) of Ohio R.C. 2921.43, or division (F) or (G) of Ohio R.C. 3517.13, that is directly related to an offense involving misconduct in office of a public servant.
         B.   “Public servant” has the same meaning as in Section 525.01.
   (d)   An offense is committed when every element of the offense occurs. In the case of an offense of which an element is a continuing course of conduct, the period of limitation does not begin to run until such course of conduct or the accused's accountability for it terminates, whichever occurs first.
   (e)   A prosecution is commenced on the date an indictment is returned or an information filed, or on the date a lawful arrest without a warrant is made, or on the date a warrant, summons, citation or other process is issued, whichever occurs first. A prosecution is not commenced by the return of an indictment or the filing of an information unless reasonable diligence is exercised to issue and execute process on the same. A prosecution is not commenced upon issuance of a warrant, summons, citation or other process, unless reasonable diligence is exercised to execute the same.
   (f)   The period of limitation shall not run during any time when the corpus delicti remains undiscovered.
   (g)   The period of limitation shall not run during any time when the accused purposely avoids prosecution. Proof that the accused absented himself from this Municipality or concealed his identity or whereabouts is prima-facie evidence of his purpose to avoid prosecution.
   (h)   The period of limitation shall not run during any time a prosecution against the accused based on the same conduct is pending in this State, even though the indictment, information or process that commenced the prosecution is quashed or the proceedings on the indictment, information or process are set aside or reversed on appeal.
   (i)    The period of limitation for a violation of any provision of this General Offenses Code that involves a physical or mental wound, injury, disability or condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of a child under eighteen years of age or of a child with a developmental disability or physical impairment under twenty-one years of age shall not begin to run until either of the following occurs:
      (1)   The victim of the offense reaches the age of majority.
      (2)   A public children services agency, or a municipal or county peace officer that is not the parent or guardian of the child, in the county in which the child resides or in which the abuse or neglect is occurring or has occurred has been notified that abuse or neglect is known, suspected, or believed to have occurred. (ORC 2901.13)
   (j)   This section shall not apply to prosecutions commenced within the period of limitations set forth in Ohio R.C. 718.12(B) for violations of the Municipal income tax ordinance.
   501.07 REQUIREMENTS FOR CRIMINAL LIABILITY.
   (a)   Except as provided in subsection (b) hereof, a person is not guilty of an offense unless both of the following apply:
      (1)   The person’s liability is based on conduct that includes either a voluntary act, or an omission to perform an act or duty that the person is capable of performing;
      (2)   The person has the requisite degree of culpability for each element as to which a culpable mental state is specified by the language defining the offense.
   (b)   When the language defining an offense does not specify any degree of culpability, and plainly indicates a purpose to impose strict criminal liability for the conduct described in the section, then culpability is not required for a person to be guilty of the offense. The fact that one subsection of a section plainly indicates a purpose to impose strict liability for an offense defined in that subsection does not by itself plainly indicate a purpose to impose strict criminal liability for an offense defined in other subsections of the section that do not specify a degree of culpability.
   (c)   (1)   When language defining an element of an offense that is related to knowledge or intent or to which mens rea could fairly be applied neither specifies culpability nor plainly indicates a purpose to impose strict liability, the element of the offense is established only if a person acts recklessly.
      (2)   Subsection (c)(1) of this section does not apply to offenses defined in the Traffic Code.
      (3)   Subsection (c)(1) of this section does not relieve the prosecution of the burden of proving the culpable mental state required by any definition incorporated into the offense.
   (d)   Voluntary intoxication may not be taken into consideration in determining the existence of a mental state that is an element of a criminal offense. Voluntary intoxication does not relieve a person of a duty to act if failure to act constitutes a criminal offense. Evidence that a person was voluntarily intoxicated may be admissible to show whether or not the person was physically capable of performing the act with which the person is charged.
   (e)   As used in this section:
      (1)   Possession is a voluntary act if the possessor knowingly procured or received the thing possessed, or was aware of the possessor’s control of the thing possessed for a sufficient time to have ended possession.
      (2)   Reflexes, convulsions, body movements during unconsciousness or sleep, and body movements that are not otherwise a product of the actor's volition, are involuntary acts.
      (3)   "Culpability" means purpose, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, as defined in Section 501.08.
      (4)   “Intoxication” includes, but is not limited to, intoxication resulting from the ingestion of alcohol, a drug, or alcohol and a drug.
         (ORC 2901.21)
   501.08 CULPABLE MENTAL STATES.
   (a)   A person acts purposely when it is the person’s specific intention to cause a certain result, or when the gist of the offense is a prohibition against conduct of a certain nature, regardless of what the offender intends to accomplish thereby, it is the offender’s specific intention to engage in conduct of that nature.
   (b)   A person acts knowingly, regardless of purpose, when the person is aware that the person’s conduct will probably cause a certain result or will probably be of a certain nature. A person has knowledge of circumstances when the person is aware that such circumstances probably exist.
   When knowledge of the existence of a particular fact is an element of an offense, such knowledge is established if a person subjectively believes that there is a high probability of its existence and fails to make inquiry or acts with a conscious purpose to avoid learning the fact.
   (c)   A person acts recklessly when, with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person perversely disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the person’s conduct is likely to cause a certain result or is likely to be of a certain nature. A person is reckless with respect to circumstances when, with heedless indifference to the consequences, the person perversely disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such circumstances are likely to exist.
   (d)   A person acts negligently when, because of a substantial lapse from due care, the person fails to perceive or avoid a risk that the person’s conduct may cause a certain result or may be of a certain nature. A person is negligent with respect to circumstances when, because of a substantial lapse from due care, the person fails to perceive or avoid a risk that such circumstances may exist.
   (e)   When the section defining an offense provides that negligence suffices to establish an element thereof, then recklessness, knowledge or purpose is also sufficient culpability for such element. When recklessness suffices to establish an element of an offense, then knowledge or purpose is also sufficient culpability for such element. When knowledge suffices to establish an element of an offense, then purpose is also sufficient culpability for such element.
(ORC 2901.22)
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