606.19 DERELICTION OF DUTY.

   (a)   No law enforcement officer shall negligently do any of the following:

      (1)   Fail to serve a lawful warrant without delay.

      (2)   Fail to prevent or halt the commission of an offense or to apprehend an offender, when it is in the law enforcement officer’s power to do so alone or with available assistance.

   (b)   No law enforcement, ministerial, or judicial officer shall negligently fail to perform a lawful duty in a criminal case or proceeding.

   (c)   No officer, having charge of a detention facility, shall negligently do any of the following:

      (1)   Allow the detention facility to become littered or unsanitary.

      (2)   Fail to provide persons confined in the detention facility with adequate food, clothing, bedding, shelter, and medical attention.

      (3)   Fail to control an unruly prisoner, or to prevent intimidation of or physical harm to a prisoner by another.

      (4)   Allow a prisoner to escape.

      (5)   Fail to observe any lawful and reasonable regulation for the management of the detention facility.

   (d)   No public official shall recklessly create a deficiency, incur a liability, or expend a greater sum than is appropriated by the Council for the use in any one year of the department, agency, or institution with which the public official is connected.

   (e)   No public servant shall recklessly fail to perform a duty expressly imposed by law with respect to the public servant’s office, or recklessly do any act expressly forbidden by law with respect to the public servant’s office.

   (f)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of dereliction of duty, a misdemeanor of the second degree.

   (g)   Except as otherwise provided by law, a public servant who is a county treasurer; county auditor; township fiscal officer; city auditor; city treasurer; village fiscal officer; village clerk-treasurer; village clerk; in the case of a municipal corporation having a charter that designates an officer who, by virtue of the charter, has duties and functions similar to those of the city or village officers referred to in this section, the officer so designated by the charter; school district treasurer; fiscal officer of a community school established under R.C. Chapter 3314; treasurer of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics school established under R.C. Chapter 3326; or fiscal officer of a college-preparatory boarding school established under R.C. Chapter 3328 and is convicted of or pleads guilty to dereliction of duty is disqualified from holding any public office, employment, or position of trust in this state for four years following the date of conviction or of entry of the plea, and is not entitled to hold any public office until any repayment or restitution required by the court is satisfied.

   (h)   As used in this section, “public servant” includes the following:

      (1)   An officer or employee of a contractor as defined in R.C. § 9.08;

      (2)   A fiscal officer employed by the operator of a community school established under R.C. Chapter 3314 or by the operator of a college-preparatory boarding school established under R.C. Chapter 3328.

(ORC 2921.44)

606.20 INTERFERING WITH CIVIL RIGHTS.

   (a)   No public servant, under color of his or her office, employment, or authority, shall knowingly deprive, conspire or attempt to deprive any person of a constitutional or statutory right.

   (b)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of interfering with civil rights, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(ORC 2921.45; Ord. 278-73. Passed 12-17-73.)

606.21 RESERVED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION.

606.22 ATTEMPTS.

   (a)   No person, purposely or knowingly, and when purpose or knowledge is sufficient culpability for the commission of an offense, shall engage in conduct that, if successful, would constitute or result in the offense.

   (b)   It is no defense to a charge under this section that, in retrospect, commission of the offense that was the object of the attempt was either factually or legally impossible under the attendant circumstances, if that offense could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as the actor believed them to be.

   (c)   No person who is convicted of committing a specific offense, of complicity in the commission of an offense, or of conspiracy to commit an offense, shall be convicted of an attempt to commit the same offense in violation of this section.

   (d)   It is an affirmative defense to a charge under this section that the actor abandoned his or her effort to commit the offense or otherwise prevented its commission, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his or her criminal purpose.

   (e)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of an attempt to commit an offense. An attempt to commit aggravated murder, murder, or an offense for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for life is a felony of the first degree, to be prosecuted under appropriate State law. An attempt to commit a drug abuse offense for which the penalty is determined by the amount or number of unit doses of the controlled substance involved in the drug abuse offense is an offense of the same degree as the drug abuse offense attempted would be if that drug abuse offense had been committed and had involved an amount or number of unit doses of the controlled substance that is within the next lower range of controlled substance amounts than was involved in the attempt. An attempt to commit any other offense is an offense of the next lesser degree than the offense attempted. In the case of an attempt to commit an offense other than a violation of Ohio R.C. Chapter 3734 that is not specifically classified, an attempt is a misdemeanor of the first degree if the offense attempted is a felony, and a misdemeanor of the fourth degree if the offense attempted is a misdemeanor. In the case of an attempt to commit a violation of any provision of Ohio R.C. Chapter 3734, other than Ohio R.C. 3734.18, that relates to hazardous wastes, an attempt is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate State law. An attempt to commit a minor misdemeanor, or to engage in conspiracy, is not an offense under this section.

   (f)   As used in this section:

      (1)   "Drug abuse offense" has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2925.01.

      (2)   "Motor vehicle" has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 4501.01.

(ORC 2923.02)

606.23 COMPLICITY.

   (a)   No person, acting with the kind of culpability required for the commission of an offense, shall do any of the following:

      (1)   Solicit or procure another to commit the offense;

      (2)   Aid or abet another in committing the offense;

      (3)   Conspire with another to commit the offense in violation of Ohio R.C. 2923.01;

      (4)   Cause an innocent or irresponsible person to commit the offense.

   (b)   It is no defense to a charge under this section that no person with whom the accused was in complicity has been convicted as a principal offender.

   (c)   No person shall be convicted of complicity under this section unless an offense is actually committed, but a person may be convicted of complicity in an attempt to commit an offense in violation of Ohio R.C. 2923.02 or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance.

   (d)   If an alleged accomplice of the defendant testifies against the defendant in a case in which the defendant is charged with complicity in the commission of or an attempt to commit an offense, an attempt to commit an offense, or an offense, the court, when it charges the jury, shall state substantially the following:

   “The testimony of an accomplice does not become inadmissible because of his or her complicity, moral turpitude or self-interest, but the admitted or claimed complicity of a witness may affect his or her credibility and make his or her testimony subject to grave suspicion and require that it be weighed with great caution.

   It is for you, as jurors, in the light of all the facts presented to you from the witness stand, to evaluate such testimony and to determine its quality and worth or its lack of quality and worth.”

(Ord. 2-89. Passed 2-6-89.)

   (e)   It is an affirmative defense to a charge under this section that, prior to the commission of or attempt to commit the offense, the actor terminated his or her complicity, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his or her criminal purpose.

   (f)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of complicity in the commission of an offense, and shall be prosecuted and punished as if he or she were a principal offender. A charge of complicity may be stated in terms of this section, or in terms of the principal offense.

(ORC 2923.03; Ord. 278-73. Passed 12-17-73.)