Joe Uecker

State Representative

6/8/2008

A Man’s home is His Castle:

Last week in Columbus, the House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 184, also known as the “Castle Doctrine”.  Currently in Ohio, if you are attacked in your own home, you have the burden of proof to show that you did everything possible to retreat from your assailant before you could use force (even deadly force) against an attacker.  You would actually have to prove that you were in fear for your life. 

The “Castle Doctrine”, as you would imagine from its very name, makes “your home your castle” which comes from old English Common Law known as the “Castle Laws”.  If the Governor signs the bill making it law, the home occupant may assume that during a home invasion the invader is there to do them harm and you may take any means necessary to protect yourself, including the use of deadly force.  The law would also give you civil immunity so you cannot be sued later by the attacker.

This will be a dramatic change from current law as it will now become the attacker’s burden to prove they were not there to do you harm.

Senate Bill 184 will also make several changes to Ohio law concerning the right to carry a concealed weapon (CCW). Under current law, if someone who holds a CCW permit were to be at a grocery store that happens to start a wine tasting class, the permit holder would technically be in violation of the law and open to a felony offense.  This was changed to allow for this type of innocuous event.  The law also did not allow for armed guards in bars and liquor permit establishments. This was changed along with allowing CCW permit holders to carry in parking garages and park shelters, places that are typically remote from police patrol and sometimes prone to acts of violence.

One last and very important issue to report was the debate in Columbus over the Capital Appropriations Bill, HB 562.  This is the bill that includes around $750,000 for Clermont County projects (about $475,000 for the Clermont County Communications Center).  As usual, at the last minute, a number of items that caused me heartburn were slipped into the bill before being sent over to the Senate.  Several of these I opposed and voiced my objection. Fortunately, so did several of the Senators.  This caused the legislation to be referred to a “Conference Committee” made up of both Senators and Representatives.  I am not sure what the bill will finally look like, however, suffice it to say that this will again be a bill that I will have to weigh whether the “good” outweighs the “bad” in order to gain my vote.  I will probably spend the rest of the summer writing each week on the various parts of this bill.

Many of you have received my monthly newsletter that is sent out randomly to around 2,000 residences (House Rules).  In that newsletter I include a survey of 5 or 6 issues so that I can try to stay in touch with the major issues most important to you.  I want to thank the great many of you who take the time to fill out the survey and send it back to me.  I assure you that I read each one and even go so far as to keep a running tally of the responses.

For those who have any thoughts on the matter, please feel free to either call me or send me an email with your comments.  I’d love to hear from you. Simply call me at my office at (614-466-8134) or write me an email (Joe@JoeUecker.com). 

Joe Uecker

State Representative

Ohio’s 66 District

Representing Batavia, Goshen, Miami and Union Townships as well as the Cities of Loveland and Milford and the Villages of Batavia and Amelia. 

Columbus Phone: 614-466-8134

Local Phone: 513-532-0912

Email:   Joe@JoeUecker.com

Website: http://JoeUecker.com