ASHLAND — A handful of Amish again refused to pay their fines for violating Ohio’s buggy light law in Ashland Municipal Court on Monday, prompting Judge John Good to issue certificates of judgement against them.
Mahlon Lehman, Eli Mast, Henry Weaver, Eli Gingerich, Abraham Yoder, Andy Hershberger and Levi Lehman were all ticketed for driving their horse-drawn buggies without a flashing light last fall. They pleaded no contest to their tickets and said they would not pay their fines in subsequent hearings.
On Monday, Judge John Good offered each of them one last chance to pay their fines. They all refused, leading Good to issue certificates of judgement against them.
“It’s really the last thing the court can do. I don’t see any point in having any other hearings,” Good said.
“You’ve been offered a chance to do work service. You’re not gonna do that. You won’t pay your fines. I can’t put you in jail. So this is all I have left and this is what I’m gonna do,” he said.
Mahlon Lehman, Levi Lehman and Abraham Yoder submitted letters to Good asking him to dismiss their cases. Good refused, saying that the time to ask for dismissal or raise a constitutional question was long past.
“You can’t come into court in November, plead no contest, fail to raise the constitutional issue, get found guilty, get sentenced, and wait six months later and then say, ‘Hey, I want this dismissed because it’s unconstitutional.’ You had every opportunity to file a motion to dismiss and you didn’t do it,” Good told Yoder.
According to Good, the certificates of judgement will be sent to the Ashland County Clerk of Courts, who will likely use the certificates to place liens on the Amish’s real estate.
The liens will collect the cost of the Amish’s fines — $50 in most of their cases — plus statutory interest. Under Ohio law, liens on real estate are collected when the property owner sells or refinances their property, or if it is foreclosed.
Good also presided over the trial of Christ Yoder, another member of the Amish community who was recently ticketed for not having a flashing light, on Monday.
After the court heard from Deputy Daniel Saylor and two members of the Amish community who were called as witnesses, Yoder also questioned the constitutionality of the buggy law and asked Good to dismiss his case in his closing statement.
Good refused to do so, saying that Yoder should have filed a motion to dismiss before his trial.
“The court has to apply the rules of procedure and the rules of evidence even to the unrepresented. There is a way to raise the constitutionality of this statute and, a couple members of your faith have done that,” Good said. “
“And I have some hearings coming up where I intend to rule on the constitutionality of this statute. But you didn’t do that.”
Other Amish who were ticketed last fall will appear in court for what is likely their final hearings on May 16 and May 22.
