I don't believe that case is saying what you're understanding it to say.JediSkipdogg wrote:
State v. McMechan (1988), 48 Ohio App. 3d 261 has stood firm for 30 years now and states some form of communication is necessary to guarantee a conviction of criminal trespass. It further states one is not required to go looking for signs. Nothing has overturned that decision. So not sure what case law you have seen on people being arrested for trespass without some form of warning.
https://casetext.com/case/state-v-mcmechanWe find the trial court painted with too broad a brush when it imposed a duty upon appellant, who was not aware of any limits on use, to search the area for signs imposing restrictions. We believe the better-reasoned approach lies in imposing the duty to communicate restrictions on the use of a particular parcel of land or a particular building to its owner or occupier.
Since there is no showing in the record that appellant's point of entry into Pfeffer Park contained some form of communication of the restrictions upon its use, we find appellant's second argument to have merit and, accordingly, we sustain his single assignment of error.
McMechan's conviction was overturned because the arresting officer admitted in court testimony that "he was unsure of exactly where appellant entered the park or whether there was a warning sign at that point." but the trial court ruled he had a duty to "go to the gates after having proceeded into the park on a beaten path to find exactly what the posted hours were." That's what the decision meant when it says there isn't a duty to go looking for signs.
However it also explicitly said that signage at an entrance constitutes notification:
Adequate warnings of land or premises use restrictions can be communicated actually or constructively — that is, through the use of physical barriers such as barricades, barriers, fences and locks which actually limit or bar access, or by signs at the entrance to the land or premises which inform the user, i.e., act as constructive notice, of the restrictions which exist.