State v. Switzer

While agreeing wholeheartedly with the aims and purposes of Ohio conservation laws, I must dissent from the judgment reached by my colleagues in this case.

The defendant in this case was a marked man from the time he loaded the fish in question upon his trucks in Canada. One of the game agents who testified for the prosecution admitted that Canadian authorities contacted Ohio state authorities, who relayed the information to the witness, to advise that defendant had purchased the walleye pike.

It is significant to me that this witness stated that, when the fish passed through customs into…