03/14/2024
Case Caption | Case No. | Topics and Issues | Author | Decided | WebCite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In re I.N. | 113258 | Permanent custody; case plan; housing; basic needs; reasonable time; domestic violence; mental health; referral; reasonable; diligent; best interests; clear and convincing evidence; manifest weight. Competent, credible evidence supported the court’s finding that it was in child’s best interest to award permanent custody to CCDCFS and that the child could not be placed with his parents within a reasonable time or should not be placed his parents under R.C. 2151.414(B)(1)(a), 2151.414(E)(1), (4), (14), and (16). The juvenile court’s judgment granting the agency’s motion for permanent custody and terminating Mother’s parental rights was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. | E.T. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-950 |
| State v. Pickens | 113202 | Involuntary manslaughter; juvenile court; mandatory transfer; R.C. 2152.12; probable cause; complicity; guilty plea; waiver. Affirmed. The defendant’s argument regarding whether an offender under the age of majority is subject to mandatory transfer to the general division has been overruled in State v. Bond, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 110520, 2022-Ohio-1246, and any argument pertaining to the factual foundation of the probable-cause determination cannot be challenged based on the defendant’s guilty plea to improper discharge and involuntary manslaughter offenses. | S. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-951 |
| State v. Otero | 113069 | Consecutive sentences; community control; probation-violation hearing; suspended sentence; notification; imposition of prison; ineffective assistance of counsel. The imposition of consecutive sentences upon revocation of community control was improper where the court did not notify the defendant of the possibility of suspended sentences being run consecutively. The trial court’s imposition of prison was proper. The defendant received effective assistance of counsel. | Kilbane | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-952 |
| In re A.J. | 113005 | Legal custody; magistrate’s decision; objections; timely; transcript; Juv.R. 40(D)(3)(b); Juv.R. 40(D)(4)(d); independent review; abuse of discretion; adopted; prematurely. Reversed the decision of the juvenile court that prematurely adopted the magistrate’s decision and committed the child to the legal custody of the child’s father. The juvenile court entered final judgment when mother had timely filed objections to the magistrate’s decision pursuant to Juv.R. 40(D)(3)(b) and her request to file a transcript was granted, but the transcript was not yet submitted. The matter was remanded with instructions for the juvenile court to permit mother to file the requested transcript and to then conduct the independent review required by Juv.R. 40(D)(4)(d). | S. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-953 |
| State v. Woods | 112987 | Rape; gross sexual imposition; sufficiency; manifest weight; digital penetration; sexually violent predator specification. Defendant’s rape and gross sexual imposition convictions were supported by sufficient evidence and the weight of the evidence, except for one in which the evidence was not sufficient to support a rape conviction but was sufficient to support the lesser-included offense of gross sexual imposition. Trial court’s guilty finding on sexually violent predator specifications were not against the manifest weight of the evidence, but the trial court erroneously found the defendant guilty on one specification that required proof of a prior conviction of sexually violent offense but there was no evidence of a prior conviction. | E.T. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-954 |
| State v. DeJesus | 112974 | Aggravated menacing; domestic violence, harassment by inmate; community-control sanctions; prison term; felony sentencing. The court’s discretionary imposition of prison was not contrary to law when defendant violated a bond condition while awaiting sentencing. | Forbes | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-955 |
| State v. Banville | 112965 | Involuntary manslaughter; gross abuse of a corpse; corrupting another with drugs; death; consecutive sentence; separate cases; findings; R.C. 2929.14(C)(4); support; R.C. 2953.08(G)(2); sentencing entry; nunc pro tunc; Reagan Tokes Law; indefinite sentence. Affirmed appellant’s convictions and sentence, but remanded the matter to the trial court to issue a nunc pro tunc sentencing entry that incorporates its consecutive-sentence findings. The trial court made all the required consecutive-sentence findings under R.C. 2929.14(C)(4), and the consecutive sentences were upheld under the R.C. 2953.08(G)(2) standard. R.C. 2929.14(C) does not distinguish between multiple counts in a single case and multiple counts in separate cases. Multiple sets of findings were not required. Rejected constitutional challenges to the Reagan Tokes Law. | S Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-956 |
| Coleman v. Big Truck Rehab Center, Inc. | 112964 | Independent contractor; employer; employee; employment relationship; manifest weight; overtime; Federal Labor Standards Act; Ohio Minimum Wage Standards Act; wages; right to control; economic reality test; Bostic test; prompt payment. The trial court did not err in finding appellant an independent contractor as opposed to an employee. Persons claiming employee status must prove they are employees; right to control the manner of work is the chief test in determining whether one is employee or independent contractor. | Groves | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-957 |
| State v. Jackson | 112949 | Crim.R. 8(A); joinder of offenses; Crim.R. 14; severance; plain error; other acts test; simple and direct test; Evid.R. 404(B); prejudice; ineffective assistance of counsel; futile act; imposition of sentences on firearm specification; having weapons while under disability; R.C. 2929.14(B)(1)(e). Defendant did not show that the trial court’s failure to, sua sponte, sever offenses relating to three separate incidents for trial constituted an obvious error or that there was a reasonable probability that any alleged error resulted in prejudice, affecting the outcome of the trial. The offenses relating to the three incidents were charged together under Crim.R. 8(A) because they were of the “same or similar character” and were “based on two or more acts or transactions connected together” that were part of a “course of criminal conduct” occurring in close proximity, in or around the same geographic area, over a relatively short period of time. Evidence of the other offenses may have been admissible other-acts evidence under Evid.R. 404(B) if the offenses related to each incident had been tried separately because defendant used the vehicle he stole in the first incident to facilitate his crimes in the second incident, there were a number of striking similarities between the manner in which the offenses in the three incidents were committed, suggestive of a modus operandi, and evidence offered in support of the kidnapping and rape charges in the second incident would have arguably been admissible to rebut defendant’s claim of consent in the third incident (and vice versa). The evidence supporting each offense was simple and direct without significant overlap or conflation of proof, and the state presented substantial evidence supporting defendant’s convictions. Defendant did not establish ineffective assistance of counsel based on counsel’s failure to request severance where defendant did not show a motion to sever, if filed, would have been successful and or that he was prejudiced by the joinder of the offenses at issue. Trial court did not commit plain error in imposing sentences on the firearm specifications attached to having weapons while under disability charges where the parties stipulated to the admissibility of judgment entry establishing defendant’s prior first-degree felony conviction and it could be reasonably inferred from the facts that less than five years had passed since defendant was released from prison or postrelease control for the prior offense, satisfying the requirements of R.C. 2929.14(B)(1)(e). | E.A. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-958 |
| M.E.K. v. P.K. | 112942 | Magistrate’s decision; custody; Civ.R. 75; R.C. 3105.73; abuse of discretion; App.R. 18(C); attorney fee award; reasonableness. Reversed in part and remanded. Appellant failed to demonstrate error with the guardian ad litem’s appointment solely in that capacity and not as counsel to the children, but the domestic relations court erred in awarding attorney fees based on a heavily redacted fee bill. | S. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-959 |
| Neugebauer v. Farinacci | 112294 | Medical negligence; delivery; R.C. 2305.252(A); peer review privilege; privileges; suspended; revoked; Evid.R. 611; Evid.R. 613; motion in limine; relevancy; Evid.R. 401; unfairly prejudicial; Evid.R. 403(B); impeachment; cross-examination. - Defendant-physician did not withstand his threshold burden of establishing the existence of a committee that met the statutory definition of peer review committee contained in R.C. 2305.25(E). Trial court’s determination that peer review committee privilege shielded defendant-physician about hospital privilege status was in error. Nevertheless, the trial court properly limited examination about hospital privileges because the probative value of whether defendant-physician’s hospital privileges were suspended or revoked following the child’s delivery was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, and misleading the jury. No abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to limit cross-examination of defendant-physician about the status of his privileges. | Keough | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-960 |
| State v. Harris | 112195 | Manifest weight; having weapons while under disability; firearm specifications. The defendant’s conviction for having a weapon while under disability, with a 54-month firearm specification, was not against the manifest weight of the evidence where a witness testified that she saw the defendant enter an apartment with a firearm on his hip and later saw him move the firearm to a coat pocket. | E.A. Gallagher | 3/14/2024 | 2024-Ohio-961 |