Ohio bill inspired by leaf blower theft aims to revise state's definition of burglary

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A court case over a stolen leaf blower has inspired an Ohio bill that aims to change the state’s legal definition of burglary. 

Ohio law currently defines burglary as trespassing into a structure by force, stealth or deception with the intent to commit any criminal offense inside. House Bill 252, sponsored by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Adam Bird (R-New Richmond), would remove the requirement for force, stealth or deception.

Prosecutors brought the idea for the bill to lawmakers, according to Click. Louis Tobin, president of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said the bill stems from a Supreme Court case in which justices were tasked with deciding whether the theft of a $500 leaf blower from an open garage counted as burglary under Ohio law. 

In September 2020, Donald Bertram casually walked past a Scioto County homeowner into his garage and took the leaf blower, according to court records. Despite the homeowner asking Bertram to put the leaf blower back, he put it in his car and drove off with it. 

A short time later, police arrested Bertram and charged him with burglary, before a jury convicted him of the crime. He was sentenced to 8-12 years in prison for the second-degree felony.

However, Bertram appealed the decision on the basis that the state had failed to prove he used force, stealth or deception. The case reached the Ohio Supreme Court in 2023 and the state's highest court agreed with Bertram, vacating his sentence. 

Instead, the Ohio Supreme Court instructed the Scioto County Common Pleas Court to convict Bertram of a misdemeanor trespassing charge, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine. 

“This is another one of those ‘only in Ohio’ moments that just ought not to be,” Click said at a hearing for the bill in May. “The fault does not lie with the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court. They rightfully interpreted the law. The fault is in the law itself, and we have the power to fix that.”

Click said Ohio’s requirement of the use of force, stealth or deception for burglary is unique. He pointed to the definitions of burglary for five other states, including California and Texas, which all define the crime as entering a structure with the intent to commit a crime and exclude the requirement seen in Ohio law. The FBI defines burglary as the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft, also without the need for force, stealth or deception.

Tobin, who testified in support of the bill, said the leaf blower theft is not an isolated incident, and criminals in multiple other Ohio cases have acted just as brazenly. He pointed to a 2013 case where a defendant walked into an open garage in the middle of the day and stole a lawnmower, and a 1998 case where a defendant walked into a victim’s unlocked apartment and walked out with her VCR. 

“The common factor in all of these cases, including Bertram, is that the criminal boldly walked into another’s home,” he said in June testimony. “The purpose of our burglary laws is to protect the occupants of homes from dangerous, unwanted intrusions. The danger isn’t created by the means of entry but by the entry itself.”

The legislation has also drawn support from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, Seneca County Sheriff’s Office and Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office. 

However, not everyone is on board. Zachary Miller, legislative policy manager with the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, said the proposed change would lead to a dramatic expansion of felony charges for acts that are currently “appropriately” classified as lesser offenses and could potentially lead to “unjust outcomes.”

“Without the ‘force, stealth or deception’ element, the line between a felony burglary and lesser misdemeanor offenses will be blurred,” Miller said. “The OPD urges the committee to consider the potential for over-criminalization and the erosion of a historically significant element of these offenses that HB 252 represents.”

The bill, introduced in April, still requires votes in both the House and Senate, as well as additional hearings, before potentially reaching Gov. Mike DeWine for final approval.