City of Cleveland v. Ezell

Timothy E. McMonagle, Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, defendants-appellants, Sam Ezell, Curtis Wiggins, and Corey Hargrove, challenge their convictions for violating various subsections of Cleveland Codified Ordinances 471.06 on the basis that the ordinance is constitutionally infirm.

Defendants Ezell, Wiggins, and Hargrove are members of an Islamic sect that encourages its members to distribute its religious newspaper, The Final Call. Defendants would wait for a traffic light to turn red and then proceed into the street between stopped cars to solicit sales of the newspaper. Sometime…