Case Title: State v. Swidas

Citation: 2012-Ohio-4638

Docket Number: 2011-0244

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State v. Swidas, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-4638.] 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2012-OHIO-4638 
THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. SWIDAS, APPELLANT. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets,  
it may be cited as State v. Swidas, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-4638.] 
Criminal law—R.C. 2941.146—Firearm specification—Discharging a firearm 
from a motor vehicle—No substantial physical connection with the motor 
vehicle. 
(No. 2011-0244—Submitted November 16, 2011—Decided October 11, 2012.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Lake County,  
No. 2009-L-104, 2010-Ohio-6436. 
_________________ 
 
PFEIFER, J. 
{¶ 1} R.C. 2941.146(A) contains a firearm specification that adds a five-
year prison term when a defendant commits a felony that includes the element of 
purposely or knowingly causing or attempting to cause the death of or physical 
harm to another, if the crime “was committed by discharging a firearm from a 
motor vehicle other than a manufactured home.”  In this case, we hold that R.C. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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2941.146 is not applicable when a person fires a weapon while standing 
completely outside a motor vehicle. 
Factual and Procedural Background 
{¶ 2} Defendant-appellant, Michael Swidas, shot Ulysses “Cory” 
Altizer.  Of that there is no doubt.  Swidas claimed that he shot Altizer in self-
defense.  A jury found that he did not.  The issue we consider today focuses only 
on Swidas’s location when he fired his weapon.  Where he was when he fired the 
gun makes a significant difference: R.C. 2941.146 states that if he fired the shots 
“from a motor vehicle,” he is subject to a mandatory, five-year prison term.  But 
what does “from a motor vehicle” mean? 
The Shooting 
{¶ 3} Swidas and Altizer had a history of physical confrontations before 
the night in question.  Altizer and Joe Naples were already at Horvath’s Pub when 
Swidas arrived.  Altizer first noticed Swidas that night when Altizer went to use 
the restroom.  The two exchanged brief unpleasantries (Altizer: “Hey Sweets, 
how you doin’?” Swidas: “Better than you”).  By the time Altizer emerged from 
the restroom, Swidas had left the bar.  Some time later—Swidas and Altizer differ 
on how long—Altizer and Naples left, too. 
{¶ 4} Swidas’s car, a Buick Park Avenue, was backed into a parking 
space facing Horvath’s.  The spaces were angled.  Swidas testified that he heard 
Altizer and Naples approaching him when he was opening the driver’s door of his 
car.  He testified that they were charging at him and that he thought they were 
going to try to attack him and rob him.  He reached for the gun he had under the 
driver’s seat, grabbed it, and started firing.  Swidas testified that when he fired his 
gun, the open car door was between him and Altizer.  Altizer was in front of and 
to the right of Swidas’s vehicle.  Swidas fired five shots; Altizer was hit once, in 
the hand, damaging a finger.  After firing, Swidas jumped into his car and drove 
January Term, 2012 
3 
 
off.  Witness testimony differed as to whether the car was running at the time of 
the shooting; at the very least, its lights were on. 
{¶ 5} Altizer corroborated Swidas’s testimony about Swidas’s position 
near the car at the time of the shooting.  He described Swidas as being on the 
driver’s side of the car behind the open door—“between the door and the vehicle, 
like it—say, like it was a shield.”  In relation to the door, he described Swidas as 
being “like in the corner” where the hinges are.  As for Swidas’s posture, Altizer 
testified, “He was over the windshield of the car a little bit, and pointing a gun at 
me, shooting.” 
The Trial 
{¶ 6} Swidas’s counsel moved to dismiss the specification at issue at the 
conclusion of the testimony.  He argued that the evidence showed that Swidas was 
standing outside the vehicle when he fired the shots and that under R.C. 2941.146, 
the specification was not applicable if Swidas was not inside the car.  
Alternatively, he argued that if the statute is not interpreted to require the offender 
to be inside the car, it is unconstitutional because it bears “no rational relationship 
to any legitimate State purpose.”  The court denied the motion to dismiss. 
 
“From a motor vehicle” is an easily determined standard. 
Anybody knows whether something is “from a motor vehicle[.]” 
* * * The legislature certainly knows the words.  If they intended 
the motor vehicle to be in motion, or if they intended the shooter to 
be occupying the motor vehicle, or in or upon the motor vehicle, 
the legislature could have written it that way.* * * So, I believe 
that since the language is clear and unambiguous, and the facts in 
this case are that the vehicle was unlocked, the door was open, the 
weapon was retrieved from inside the vehicle, * * * the defendant 
stood in the well between the open door and the body of the car.  
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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Some testimony is, the vehicle was running. * * * The defendant 
left in it within a matter of seconds.  So, the Court overrules the 
defendant’s objection to the constitutionality of that statute or its 
inclusion here under the facts of this case. 
 
{¶ 7} The case went to a jury.  The trial court’s jury instruction regarding 
the specification was not expansive: 
 
[Y]ou will also separately decide whether, beyond a reasonable 
doubt, the defendant, as an essential element of the offense, 
purposely or knowingly caused or attempted to cause the death of 
or physical harm to another and that was committed by discharging 
a firearm from a motor vehicle. 
 
{¶ 8} The prosecution made it clear to the jury in closing argument that 
Swidas did not have to be in the vehicle for the specification to apply: 
 
And 
then 
the 
second 
specification 
addresses 
the 
discharging of a firearm from a motor vehicle.  And I’m sorry; you 
can [sic] eliminate this language.  But it means that he discharged 
it from a motor vehicle. Not in a motor vehicle or while in a motor 
vehicle.  From. 
 
{¶ 9} The jury acquitted Swidas on the charge of attempted murder but 
convicted him on two counts of felonious assault with two firearm specifications 
each, including the specification set forth in R.C. 2941.146.  The jury also 
convicted Swidas of tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon.  
January Term, 2012 
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The trial court sentenced appellant to 22 years’ imprisonment, which included the 
mandatory five-year term under R.C. 2941.146. 
The Appeal 
{¶ 10} Swidas appealed his convictions.  Two of his propositions of law 
addressed R.C. 2941.146: Swidas argued to the appellate court that the trial court 
should have held that R.C. 2941.146 was unconstitutionally vague as applied to 
him and that the statute violated his constitutional right to equal protection. 
{¶ 11} The appellate court rejected Swidas’s vagueness argument, holding 
that “[t]he statute is plain on its face—all that is required for the enhancement is 
that the firearm is discharged ‘from a motor vehicle.’  The term ‘drive-by’ does 
not appear in the statute nor does the statute require the vehicle to be the starting 
point of the shooting.” State v. Swidas, 11th Dist. No. 2009-L-104, 2010-Ohio-
6436, 2010 WL 5550223, ¶ 21. 
{¶ 12} And the court held that R.C. 2941.146 covered Swidas’s conduct 
since the statute did not limit its application to persons who are engaged in 
proscribed activity inside a motor vehicle: 
 
Under the facts of the instant case, it was appropriate to 
allow the jury to consider whether appellant was subject to the 
firearm specification of R.C. 2941.146.  Here, the evidence 
introduced at trial reveals that appellant's vehicle was running, the 
headlights were on to illuminate where the victims were located, 
the driver's door was open, and appellant was standing within the 
framed area of the door and the vehicle, leaning on the vehicle as 
he discharged his weapon. 
If there is evidence that the discharge of the firearm 
occurred when the defendant was in physical contact with the 
vehicle and used the vehicle to facilitate the discharge of the 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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firearm, then it is appropriate to instruct the jury on the 
specification contained in R.C. 2941.146.  The statute clearly gives 
great weight to the mobile nature of the vehicle.  If the legislature 
wanted to limit the application of the specification to 
circumstances where the defendant was “within” or “while riding 
in” the motor vehicle, it could have easily done so. The term 
“from” encompasses a much broader range of activity. 
 
Id., ¶ 26-27.  The court also rejected Swidas’s equal-protection argument.  Id., 
¶ 33. 
{¶ 13} The matter is before this court upon the acceptance of a 
discretionary appeal. 
Law and Analysis 
{¶ 14} We accepted only one of Swidas’s proposed assignments of error: 
“R.C. 2941.146 is unconstitutionally vague as applied to a defendant who 
discharges a firearm while standing outside a motor vehicle.”  However, since we 
do not need to determine the constitutionality of  R.C. 2941.146 to resolve this 
case, we will not; “when a case can be decided on other than a constitutional 
basis, we are bound to do so.” State ex rel. Crabtree v. Ohio Bur. of Workers’ 
Comp., 71 Ohio St.3d 504, 507, 644 N.E.2d 361 (1994).  We hold in this case 
simply that R.C. 2941.146 is not applicable when a defendant is standing outside 
his vehicle. 
R.C. 2941.146 
{¶ 15} R.C. 2941.146 describes a firearm specification that imposes a 
mandatory five-year prison term on a defendant who commits a felony that 
includes as an element “purposefully or knowingly causing or attempting to cause 
* * * physical harm to another,” when the crime was committed by firing a 
weapon from a motor vehicle. 
January Term, 2012 
7 
 
 
(A) Imposition of a mandatory five-year prison term upon 
an offender * * * for committing a felony that includes, as an 
essential element, purposely or knowingly causing or attempting to 
cause the death of or physical harm to another and that was 
committed by discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle other 
than a manufactured home is precluded unless the indictment, 
count in the indictment, or information charging the offender 
specifies that the offender committed the offense by discharging a 
firearm from a motor vehicle other than a manufactured home. 
 
{¶ 16} The crux of this case is determining what the word “from” means 
in the phrase “from a motor vehicle.”  The court of appeals stated that R.C. 
2941.146 is not limited to “drive-by” shootings.  But does it apply to a “stand-by” 
shooting? 
Common Usage 
{¶ 17} R.C. 1.42 states that for purposes of statutory construction, 
“[w]ords and phrases shall be read in context and construed according to the rules 
of grammar and common usage.” 
 
In accordance with that statutory mandate, we have held 
repeatedly that “[i]n the absence of a specific statutory definition, 
words used in a statute must be interpreted in their usual, normal, 
or customary meaning.” State ex rel. Brenders v. Hall (1995), 71 
Ohio St.3d 632, 634, 646 N.E.2d 822; State ex rel. Cassels v. 
Dayton City School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 217, 
220, 631 N.E.2d 150. 
 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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State v. Everette, 129 Ohio St.3d 317, 2011-Ohio-2856, 951 N.E.2d 1018, ¶ 16. 
{¶ 18} The Revised Code defines “motor vehicle” (R.C. 4501.01) and 
“firearm” (R.C. 2923.11), but it should be no surprise that it does not define 
“from.”  Dictionaries do.  Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 913 (3d 
Ed.1986) defines “from”:   
 
[U]sed as a function word to indicate a starting point: as (1) a point 
or place where an actual physical movement (as of departure, 
withdrawal, or dropping) has its beginning * * *. 
 
{¶ 19} The Oxford English Dictionary 210-211 (2d Ed.1989) also 
defines “from”: “Denoting departure or moving away: governing a [substantive] 
which indicates a point of departure or place whence motion takes place.” 
{¶ 20} Both definitions refer to a “point” or “place” whence something 
departs.  In the statute, that point or place is “a motor vehicle.”  That place is not 
“the vicinity of a motor vehicle” or “near a motor vehicle.”  The statute requires 
that the starting point of the activity is the motor vehicle itself. 
{¶ 21} But a motor vehicle cannot fire a weapon; the statute applies to 
people.  That does not obviate the statutory requirement that the locus of the 
discharge of the weapon is the motor vehicle itself.  For the locus of the discharge 
to be the motor vehicle, then, the person discharging the weapon must have a 
substantial physical connection to the vehicle.  If a person were in or on a vehicle 
to the extent that the vehicle was providing substantial support to the person, the 
locus of that person’s firing of the weapon would be the motor vehicle.  Without a 
substantial physical connection to the vehicle, a shooter cannot be said to have 
fired a shot that commenced from the motor vehicle. 
 
 
January Term, 2012 
9 
 
Swidas’s Location 
{¶ 22} Our parsing of prepositions continues in determining whether 
Swidas had a substantial physical connection to the motor vehicle when he shot 
Altizer; the key to this analysis is the victim’s use of the word “over.”  Altizer 
testified, “He was over the windshield of the car a little bit, pointing a gun at me, 
shooting.”  He did not testify that any part of Swidas was on the vehicle.  The 
appellate court incorrectly stated that Swidas was “leaning on the vehicle as he 
discharged his weapon.”  The state cites nothing in the record that supports the 
appellate court’s statement; no testimony even suggests that Swidas was on the 
car. 
{¶ 23} Indeed, the state does not rely on physical contact to make its case; 
instead it basically argues that the vehicle was the instrumentality, the sine qua 
non, of the crime.  That is the same reasoning that the trial court used in denying 
Swidas’s motion to dismiss the R.C. 2941.146 specification.  The state argues that 
the vehicle was “the starting point from which Appellant staged his attack,” that it 
was “the origin from which Appellant retrieved his gun,” that it provided 
“protection and concealment” for Swidas, and that it was the means by which 
Swidas “was able to make a rapid escape from the crime scene.”  All those 
statements are true, all supported by testimony, but none are relevant to R.C. 
2941.146.  The key to a violation under R.C. 2941.146 is the location of the 
shooter at the time of the shooting.  In this case, there is no evidence suggesting 
that Swidas had even incidental contact with the vehicle when he  fired his 
weapon.  The “from” in this case is a spot next to the motor vehicle. 
Rule of Lenity 
{¶ 24} To hold, as the state requests, that “from” includes the penumbra 
of a motor vehicle would first require a holding that the statute is ambiguous, that 
“from a motor vehicle” includes more than the physical confines of the motor 
vehicle itself.  But R.C. 2901.04(A) states that “sections of the Revised Code 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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defining offenses or penalties shall be strictly construed against the state, and 
liberally construed in favor of the accused.”  R.C. 2901.04 is a codification of the 
“rule of lenity”: “[u]nder the rule, ambiguity in a criminal statute is construed 
strictly so as to apply the statute only to conduct that is clearly proscribed. United 
States v. Lanier (1997), 520 U.S. 259, 266, 117 S.Ct. 1219, 137 L.Ed.2d 432.” 
State v. Elmore, 122 Ohio St.3d 472, 2009-Ohio-3478, 912 N.E.2d 582, ¶ 38.  
Strictly construing the statute in favor of the accused limits the reach of the statute 
to persons shooting a firearm from the vehicle itself, not from nearby.  The only 
conduct that is clearly proscribed by the statute is discharging a firearm while the 
person firing the weapon is in or on a motor vehicle. 
{¶ 25} The state of Washington, in its definition of a drive-by shooting, 
provides an example of a statute that does clearly proscribe firing weapons from 
the vicinity of a motor vehicle: 
 
A person is guilty of drive-by shooting when he or she 
recklessly discharges a firearm as defined in [Wash.Rev.Code] 
9.41.010 in a manner which creates a substantial risk of death or 
serious physical injury to another person and the discharge is either 
from a motor vehicle or from the immediate area of a motor 
vehicle that was used to transport the shooter or the firearm, or 
both, to the scene of the discharge. 
 
Wash.Rev.Code 9A.36.045(1).  R.C. 2941.146, on the other hand, simply does 
not apply when a shooter discharges his weapon “from the immediate area of a 
motor vehicle.” 
Conclusion 
{¶ 26} Since we conclude that R.C. 2941.146 is not applicable when a 
defendant fires a weapon while standing with both feet planted on the ground with 
January Term, 2012 
11 
 
no substantial physical connection with a motor vehicle, we reverse the decision 
of the court of appeals, vacate the appellant’s sentence on the firearm 
specification under R.C. 2941.146, and remand the matter to the trial court for 
resentencing. 
Judgment reversed 
and cause remanded. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, 
CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
Charles E. Coulson, Lake County Prosecuting Attorney, and Patrick J. 
Condon and Alana A. Rezaee, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee. 
Morganstern, MacAdams & DeVito Co., L.P.A., and Michael A. Partlow, 
for appellant. 
______________________