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37 Ohio St. 3d 171

Garono v. State

Ohio Supreme Court

Decided June 15, 1988

Ohio Supreme Court · decided 1988-06-15

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““(1) Property that in and of itself is unlawful for a person to acquire or possess; “(2) Property that is not in and of itself unlawful for a person to acquire or possess, but that has been determined by a court of this state, in accordance with law, to be contraband because of its use in an unlawful activity or manner, of its nature, or of the circumstances of the person who acquires or possesses it; U * * * “(5) Any controlled substance, as defined in section 3719.01 of the Revised Code, or any device, paraphernalia, money as defined in section 1301.01 of the Revised Code, or other means of exchange that has been, is being, or is intended to be used in an attempt or conspiracy to violate, or in a violation of, Chapter 2925. or 3719. of the Revised Code; it * * * “(9) Any property that is acquired through the sale or other transfer of contraband or through the proceeds of contraband, other than by a court or a law enforcement agency acting within the scope of its dutiesf.]””

quoted by 1 later decision, including 66 Ohio App. 3d 423 - State v. Golston

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1988-06-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 199 later decisions — most recently March 2026 · most notably State Ex Rel. Hanson v. Guernsey County Board of Commissioners (1992), Danis Clarkco Landfill Co. v. Clark County Solid Waste Management District (1995)

2 federal appellate · 197 state decisions

60019881990200020102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Wright, J.,

¶1concurring in part and dissenting in part. While I concur with the holding that video poker machines are gambling devices per se under R.C. 2915.01(F)(3), I cannot agree that the four machines involved in this case should be returned to appellee.

¶2The majority opinion asserts that, because there is no evidence of a violation of gambling laws, the poker machines cannot be classified as “contraband” as defined in R.C. 2901.01(M) (6). This statute states in pertinent part:

“(M) ‘Contraband’ means any property described in the following categories:
íí* …
“(6) Any gambling device, paraphernalia, money as defined in section 1301.01 of the Revised Code, or other means of exchange that has been, is being, or is intended to be used in an attempt or conspiracy to violate, or in the violation of, Chapter 2915. of the Revised Code.”

¶3Since we have held that these video games are gambling devices per se under R.C. 2915.01(F)(3), the machines themselves must be classified as illegal contraband under R.C. 2901.01 (M)(6). The evidence is undisputed that the four video poker machines seized by Beaver Township police were leased to a third party by appellee. At the very least, it should be apparent that a prima facie case was established that these machines were being used in violation of R.C. Chapter 2915. In addition, any future use of these machines in Ohio would violate the statute.

¶4*177Illegal narcotics are not returned to individuals after a trial despite a finding of not guilty. Likewise, this form of contraband should not be returned to appellee. For the foregoing reasons, I must concur in part and dissent in part.

Locher, J., concurs in the foregoing opinion.
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