City of Zanesville v. Rouse

Case Background

{¶ 1} The appellee, Ronald T. Rouse Jr., was charged with a misdemeanor offense of domestic violence as a violation of a Zanesville ordinance. The clerk of the Zanesville Municipal Court received the complaint against Rouse, but failed to date-stamp or time-stamp the complaint. The complaint is physically located in the record, but bears no mark from the clerk’s office indicating when it was filed.

{¶ 2} Rouse entered a plea of not guilty. Before his sentencing, he filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him on grounds that the charging complaint had not been properly…