Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 2935
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26 (2026)

Minor misdemeanor citation

✓ current as of May 2026
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Effective:
April 9, 2025
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 29 - 135th General Assembly
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(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of the Revised Code, when a law enforcement officer is otherwise authorized to arrest a person for the commission of a minor misdemeanor, the officer shall not arrest the person, but shall issue a citation, unless one of the following applies:

(1) The offender requires medical care or is unable to provide for the offender's own safety.

(2) The offender cannot or will not offer satisfactory evidence of the offender's identity.

(3) The offender refuses to sign the citation.

(4) The offender has previously been issued a citation for the commission of that misdemeanor and has failed to do one of the following:

(a) Appear at the time and place stated in the citation;

(b) Comply with division (C) of this section.

(B) The citation shall contain all of the following:

(1) The name and address of the offender;

(2) A description of the offense and the numerical designation of the applicable statute or ordinance;

(3) The name of the person issuing the citation;

(4) An order for the offender to appear at a stated time and place;

(5) A notice that the offender may comply with division (C) of this section in lieu of appearing at the stated time and place;

(6) A notice that the offender is required to do one of the following and that the offender may be arrested if the offender fails to do one of them:

(a) Appear at the time and place stated in the citation;

(b) Comply with division (C) of this section.

(C) In lieu of appearing at the time and place stated in the citation, the offender may, within seven days after the date of issuance of the citation, do either of the following:

(1) Appear in person at the office of the clerk of the court stated in the citation, sign a plea of guilty and a waiver of trial provision that is on the citation, and either pay the total amount of the fine and costs or enter into an installment payment plan with the clerk of the court;

(2) Sign the guilty plea and waiver of trial provision of the citation, and mail the citation and a check or money order for the total amount of the fine and costs to the office of the clerk of the court stated in the citation.

Remittance by mail of the fine and costs to the office of the clerk of the court stated in the citation constitutes a guilty plea and waiver of trial whether or not the guilty plea and waiver of trial provision of the citation are signed by the defendant.

(D) A law enforcement officer who issues a citation shall complete and sign the citation form, serve a copy of the completed form upon the offender and, without unnecessary delay, file the original citation with the court having jurisdiction over the offense.

(E) Each court shall establish a fine schedule that shall list the fine for each minor misdemeanor, and state the court costs. The fine schedule shall be prominently posted in the place where minor misdemeanor fines are paid.

(F) If an offender fails to appear and does not comply with division (C) of this section, the court shall issue a supplemental citation. If an offender still fails to appear and does not comply with division (C) of this section within the thirty days after issuance of the supplemental citation, the court may issue a summons or warrant for the arrest of the offender pursuant to the Criminal Rules. Supplemental citations shall be in the form prescribed by division (B) of this section, but shall be issued and signed by the clerk of the court at which the citation directed the offender to appear and may be sent to the offender through electronic means or may be served in the same manner as a summons.

(G) A summons or warrant for the arrest of an offender who failed to comply with division (C) of this section shall be cancelled by the court if the offender enters into an installment payment plan with the clerk of the court that issued the summons or warrant for the payment of the fine and costs.

Last updated January 28, 2025 at 1:01 PM

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 111 cases (19 in the last 5 years), 1984–2026 · leading case: State v. Brown, 792 N.E.2d 175 (Ohio 2003).
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State v. Brown, 792 N.E.2d 175 (Ohio 2003). · cites it 14× “” {¶ 5} Upon reconsideration, however, the trial court reversed its earlier decision and sustained appellee’s motion to suppress.”
State v. Jones, 2000 Ohio 374 (Ohio 2000). · cites it 25× “] Criminal law—R.C. 2935.26—Issuance of citation for minor misdemeanor—Full custodial arrest for minor misdemeanor offense violates Fourth Amendment to United States Constitution and Section 14, Article I of the Ohio Constitution—Evidence obtained incident to such an arrest is…”
State v. Dubose, 843 N.E.2d 1222 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 11× “Appellant’s primary reason was to cite R.C. 2935.26(A), which contains a very narrow list of reasons why a person may be arrested for a minor misdemeanor charge.”
City of Middletown v. Hollon, 807 N.E.2d 945 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 6× “” R.C. 2935.26(A) states a general rule that an officer shall not arrest a person for committing a minor misdemeanor, “but shall issue a citation.”
State v. Evans, 618 N.E.2d 162 (Ohio 1993). · cites it 2× “” Violation of R.C. 4507.35 is currently punishable under R.”
State v. Satterwhite, 704 N.E.2d 259 (Ohio Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 5× “Satterwhite, we have considered the identification exception set forth in R.C. 2935.26. In State v. Satterwhite, we held that “truthful, verbal representations as to identity, without more, do not preclude application * * * of the exception.”
State v. Venham, 645 N.E.2d 831 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994). · cites it 2× “Although an issuance of a citation for a minor misdemeanor is the general rule, R.C. 2935.26(A) explicitly authorizes the police officer to make an arrest under certain exceptional circumstances.”
Hicks v. Leffler, 695 N.E.2d 777 (Ohio Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 3× “” Officer Leffier maintains that, because he was unable to issue the summons directly to appellant, he, therefore, had authority under R.C. 2935.26 or Juv.R. 6(A)(2) to arrest appellant.”
State v. Brown, 39 N.E.3d 496 (Ohio 2015). · cites it 2× “The trial court, however, suppressed the drug evidence because the officers lacked statutory authority to make an arrest for a minor misdemeanor pursuant to R.C. 2935.26, and therefore the search incident to the arrest was unreasonable for purposes of Article I, Section 14 of…”
State v. Deacey, 2017 Ohio 8102 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 3× “{¶ 63} The evidence elicited at the suppression hearing indicates that Deacey refused to provide his name, driver’s license, or other identifying information despite being repeatedly asked by Officer Wright to do so.”
State v. Weideman, 764 N.E.2d 997 (Ohio 2002). · cites it 2× “The court applied a balancing test and stated that “the government’s interests in making a full custodial arrest for a minor misdemeanor offense, absent any R.C. 2935.26 exceptions, are minimal and are outweighed by the serious intrusion upon a person’s liberty and privacy that,…”
State v. Grubbs, 2017 Ohio 41 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 3× “A police officer may briefly detain an individual for a minor misdemeanor offense and issue a citation, but the officer may not conduct a custodial arrest or a search of the individual, when none of the exceptions in R.C. 2935.26 apply. State v. Bradford, 10th Dist.”
Show all 111 citing cases →
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(A) — 41 cases
State v. Dubose, 843 N.E.2d 1222 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005). “Appellant’s primary reason was to cite R.C. 2935.26(A), which contains a very narrow list of reasons why a person may be arrested for a minor misdemeanor charge.”
State v. Brown, 792 N.E.2d 175 (Ohio 2003). “” {¶ 5} Upon reconsideration, however, the trial court reversed its earlier decision and sustained appellee’s motion to suppress.”
City of Middletown v. Hollon, 807 N.E.2d 945 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004). “” R.C. 2935.26(A) states a general rule that an officer shall not arrest a person for committing a minor misdemeanor, “but shall issue a citation.”
State v. Evans, 618 N.E.2d 162 (Ohio 1993). “” Violation of R.C. 4507.35 is currently punishable under R.”
Hicks v. Leffler, 695 N.E.2d 777 (Ohio Ct. App. 1997). “” Officer Leffier maintains that, because he was unable to issue the summons directly to appellant, he, therefore, had authority under R.C. 2935.26 or Juv.R. 6(A)(2) to arrest appellant.”
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(A)(1) — 6 cases
State v. Ellis, 2011 Ohio 2967 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011).
State v. Saunders, 2018 Ohio 2624 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).
State v. Miller, 2013 Ohio 691 (Ohio Ct. App. 2013).
State v. Plues, 2012 Ohio 2519 (Ohio Ct. App. 2012).
State v. Anderson, 794 N.E.2d 126 (Ohio Ct. App. 2003).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(A)(2) — 25 cases
State v. Satterwhite, 704 N.E.2d 259 (Ohio Ct. App. 1997). “Satterwhite, we have considered the identification exception set forth in R.C. 2935.26. In State v. Satterwhite, we held that “truthful, verbal representations as to identity, without more, do not preclude application * * * of the exception.”
City of Middletown v. Hollon, 807 N.E.2d 945 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004). “” R.C. 2935.26(A) states a general rule that an officer shall not arrest a person for committing a minor misdemeanor, “but shall issue a citation.”
State v. Evans, 618 N.E.2d 162 (Ohio 1993). “” Violation of R.C. 4507.35 is currently punishable under R.”
State v. Deacey, 2017 Ohio 8102 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017). “{¶ 63} The evidence elicited at the suppression hearing indicates that Deacey refused to provide his name, driver’s license, or other identifying information despite being repeatedly asked by Officer Wright to do so.”
State v. Venham, 645 N.E.2d 831 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994). “Although an issuance of a citation for a minor misdemeanor is the general rule, R.C. 2935.26(A) explicitly authorizes the police officer to make an arrest under certain exceptional circumstances.”
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(A)(3) — 1 case
Hutchinson v. City of Middletown, Ohio (S.D. Ohio 2022).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(B) — 2 cases
State v. Wilson, 2018 Ohio 702 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).
State v. Wilson, 2018 Ohio 702 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(B)(4) — 2 cases
Zilba v. City of Port Clinton, 924 F. Supp. 2d 867 (N.D. Ohio 2013).
DePiero v. City of Macedonia, 180 F.3d 770 (6th Cir. 1999).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(B)(5) — 1 case
Blue Ash v. Hensley, 2014 Ohio 3428 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(C) — 1 case
Blue Ash v. Hensley, 2014 Ohio 3428 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(C)(1) — 1 case
Zilba v. City of Port Clinton, 924 F. Supp. 2d 867 (N.D. Ohio 2013).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(D) — 2 cases
State v. Wilson, 2018 Ohio 702 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).
State v. Wilson, 2018 Ohio 702 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(E) — 2 cases
State ex rel. Fisher v. Burkhardt, 610 N.E.2d 999 (Ohio 1993).
State ex rel. Fisher v. Burkhardt, 1993 Ohio 187 (Ohio 1993).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2935.26(a) — 1 case
State v. Bradford, 2014 Ohio 5527 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).
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