Smoking trial ends with three guilty verdicts, maximum fines

The first legal test in court of a city ordinance banning smoking in Vandalia bars ended with convictions.
A six-person jury deliberated only about 30 minutes before ruling that three violations of the smoking ordinance occurred at the Redwood Inn in August 2010.
That jury also returned a maximum fine of $500 plus court costs for each offense. Court costs in the case total $837.50. Fayette County Resident Circuit Judge S. Gene Schwarm presided over the trial.
G&T Holdings was represented at trial by Lisa Doyle, who owns the Redwood Inn with her husband, Albert.
The one-day trial was held for tickets issued for alleged violations of a city ordinance that was passed into law by the Vandalia City Council in January 2010.
Vandalia Police Chief Larry Eason issued those tickets after two officers allegedly observed smoking violations at the Redwood Inn on Aug. 12, 19 and 21 of 2010.
At the time of its passage, city officials said the ordinance is a way of enforcing a state law banning smoking in public places.
The tickets were issued to the owners of the Redwood Inn a short time after the city held a public meeting with all holders of city liquor licenses to explain how the city would be enforcing the ordinance on Aug. 1 of last year.
The city was represented at trial by Ryan Connor of Burnside, Johnston and Sheafor, its legal counsel. Connor was assisted at trial by Trent West of the firm.
G&T Holdings was represented by Daniel O’Day of Peoria and Rick Day of St. Elmo.
In his opening statement, Connor told jurors that when the city passed the ordinance related to the smoking ban in 2010, liquor license holders were “made to be accountable for (some types) of conduct” in their businesses.
He told jurors that they would not hear allegations that Lisa Doyle was smoking inside the bar, but that they would hear that violations of the ordinance occurred on three different occasions.
O’Day told jurors that the state law on smoking in public places requires only that business owners “reasonably assure that smoking is prohibited.”
The law mandates that the business owners post signs and remove ashtrays. Lisa Doyle did that, he argued.
“She took steps to make sure that people didn’t smoke,” O’Day said, adding that the Doyles created a smoking area for its patrons.
Sometimes, especially after they have been drinking, patrons “violate the probation” without even thinking, he said.
Those testifying at the trial included Eason, who said that he had sent a letter of warning to the owners of the Redwood Inn on Aug. 6 of last year after a city police officer observed a violation of the smoking law.
Under cross-examination, Eason said the city attempted to educate both bar owners and the general public about the smoking ban.
O’Day asked Eason, “Even though you did your best to educate, people still lit up?” Eason said, “Yes.”
City police officer Jerry Bowling testified that he observed violations of the smoking law on Aug. 12 and Aug. 19.
On Aug. 12, Bowling said, he “walked in and smelled smoke” and observed two males at the bar smoking.
On Aug. 19, he said, he observed a female patron put a cigarette into a beer can after he walked into the bar and watched a male put an unlit cigarette back into a cigarette pack.
In both instances, Bowling said, he filed written reports and reported the violations to Eason, as directed.
Another city police officer, Todd Emerick, testified that he walked up to the front door of the Redwood Inn and looked through the window.
“I saw a lady … smoking,” Emerick said.
He conceded under cross-examination that he did not enter the building, but added that he did not need to enter because he saw a violation through the window.
O’Day asked Emerick if he was familiar with electronic cigarettes. “I know they exist,” Emerick said.
But he testified under questioning by Connor, “It appeared to be a tobacco cigarette.”
Lisa Doyle was the only defense witness to take the stand.
Doyle testified that in order to comply with the law, she “put up signs, removed the ashtrays and told the bartenders that we are now smoke-free.”
O’Day asked whether all patrons complied with the smoking law.
“Most of them complied, some did not,” she said.
When a customer was seen to be smoking, she said, “We would tell them to put it out or go outside.”
As time went on, she said, there was increasingly greater compliance with the law by the bar’s customers.
Connor asked Doyle whether she had any more trouble getting regular customers to comply than other patrons.
“We had trouble the more drinks they had … they forget (about the smoking ban),” Doyle said.
In his closing argument, Connor told jurors, “You didn’t hear that patrons were being chased out for smoking. There was silent acquiescence.
“Everybody follows the same rules,” he said. “That’s what spot checks are about.
“I don’t think it’s enough to put a sign on the wall and walk away from it. You heard that people inside were freely smoking … on three occasions,” Connor said.
O’Day, in his closing argument, repeated the contention that Doyle had taken steps to comply with the law, by posting signs and removing all ashtrays.
“Otherwise, there are no guidelines on what to do to reasonably assure that smoking is prohibited,” he said, telling jurors that there was no evidence that an officer actually saw anyone taking a puff from a cigarette.
O’Day said that the law banning smoking had been on the books for some time before the city started enforcing it.
“All of a sudden, they want to snap their fingers and change the whole culture … and the people who weren’t smoking (bar owners) had to enforce it,” O’Day said.
He said the culture was such that two individuals lit a cigarette in front of a police officer, and that the officer did nothing about it.
Other than the Redwood Inn, the only liquor license holder to be cited for a smoking violation was the VFW Home.
A ticket for a violation at that location was issued in August, and the post was fined $250 upon pleading guilty at the end of October.