Court Filings

The Twelfth District Court of Appeals reviewed a trial court's grant of a three-year civil stalking protection order (CSPO) against appellant William Thomas after he posted repeatedly about appellee Brittney Thomason on his public Facebook page. The appellate court found sufficient credible evidence that Thomas engaged in a pattern of conduct that knowingly caused Thomason mental distress, so it affirmed the issuance of the CSPO. However, the court concluded one provision was an unconstitutional, overbroad prior restraint on speech because it effectively barred Thomas from posting anything concerning Thomason, and it vacated that portion and remanded for a narrower order.

The Court of Appeals reviewed an appeal by Shiviez Montrel Howard from his conviction in Butler County Common Pleas. Counsel filed an Anders brief concluding no nonfrivolous issues exist but identified two potential arguable errors and sought permission to withdraw. The appellate court independently reviewed the record, found no prejudicial error or infringement of appellant's rights, granted counsel's motion to withdraw, and dismissed the appeal as wholly frivolous. The court ordered the trial-court mandate issued and costs taxed to appellant.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the defendants' convictions for robbery, kidnapping, grand theft, and possession of criminal tools, but reversed sentencing in part and remanded for limited resentencing. The court held that the kidnapping and robbery convictions merge for sentencing because the victim's movement through the store was instrumental to the theft and did not create an independent risk or purpose. By contrast, possession of criminal tools (bags, gloves, masks) did not merge with robbery because those items facilitated but did not constitute the instrument of the robbery. The court also found procedural sentencing errors: the trial court failed to provide oral postrelease-control advisals and failed to make required consecutive-sentence findings at the sentencing hearing.

The Twelfth District Court of Appeals affirmed Geoffery Barrow's conviction for fifth-degree theft arising from four shoplifting incidents at a Nike outlet totaling $2,334.44. The court reviewed Barrow's speedy-trial, sufficiency, and evidentiary challenges. It held Barrow forfeited some speedy-trial claims by failing to move to dismiss in the trial court and by absconding, which reset the speedy-trial clock. The court found the evidence (surveillance video, store receipts, witness testimony, and items recovered from Barrow's vehicle) sufficient to prove the aggregate value exceeded $1,000. Any evidentiary errors were harmless.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals affirmed Clay A. Hammond’s conviction and sentence after he pled guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor (fourth-degree felony) and received a five-year term of community control. The appellate court found counsel complied with Anders procedures and, after independent review, identified no meritorious issues. The court held the plea colloquy complied with Crim. R. 11, the jointly recommended sentence is not reviewable under R.C. 2953.08(D)(1), and the trial court did not abuse its discretion by prohibiting Hammond’s medical marijuana use as a condition of community control because R.C. 2929.17(H) authorizes drug-use monitoring. The appeal was found wholly frivolous and counsel’s withdrawal was permitted.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment revoking Miguel Whitney’s community control and sentencing him to 18 months in prison for violating the terms of his supervision. Whitney argued the trial court had failed to give the full statutory warnings under R.C. 2929.19(B)(4) when it imposed community control in 2021. The appellate court held that although some statutory warnings were omitted, Whitney suffered no prejudice because he had been explicitly told at the original sentencing that a violation could result in an 18-month prison term, and the trial court imposed that exact sanction after the violation.

The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals affirmed Jeffrey Roscoe Sharpe’s convictions following a jury trial for cocaine possession, one count of having a weapon while under disability, and two counts of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. The court rejected Sharpe’s claims that his speedy-trial rights were violated, that a mistrial was required after the jury heard about a separate indictment, that the evidence was legally insufficient or against the weight of the evidence, that allied-offense merger was required, and that trial counsel was ineffective. The court concluded statutory speedy-trial procedures and evidentiary rules supported the convictions and found no plain or structural error that would justify reversal.

The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment convicting Kevin Fowler of two counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person. Fowler pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to two pandering counts; other counts were dismissed. He appealed, arguing his pleas did not comply with the criminal rule requiring that pleas be knowing and informed because the record lacked factual detail. The appellate court held that a guilty plea admits the facts in the indictment, Fowler stated he understood the charges, and the record shows his pleas were knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, so the conviction was affirmed.

The Montgomery County Court of Appeals affirmed Quinita L. Coffey’s conviction for domestic violence following a bench trial in Kettering Municipal Court. The court reviewed trial testimony from the victim (B.K.), two police officers, and Coffey, and found sufficient evidence that Coffey knowingly caused physical harm to B.K., the father of her child. The appellate court concluded the trial court reasonably credited the victim’s and officers’ testimony over Coffey’s account and held the verdict was neither legally insufficient nor against the manifest weight of the evidence.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals affirmed the Ross County Common Pleas Court’s judgment sentencing Kevin A. Redmond on guilty pleas to multiple drug counts. Redmond argued the trial court lost jurisdiction to sentence him because of an unreasonable delay between when he became available in custody and his November 8, 2024 sentencing. The appeals court held the delay was largely attributable to Redmond (he missed an earlier sentencing and incurred other charges), R.C. 2941.401 did not apply to a defendant already convicted and awaiting sentencing, and Redmond failed to prove the prison warden or court received proper certified notice. The court therefore denied vacatur and affirmed the sentence.

The court affirmed the trial court’s grant of defendant Terence Woods’s motion to suppress a firearm found in his apartment after officers entered without a warrant. The appellate court held that, while Woods’s actions could reasonably be viewed as implied consent for officers to enter the apartment, the officers’ subsequent warrantless protective sweep of the bedroom where the gun was seen exceeded what was justified under the Fourth Amendment. Because the State failed to prove the protective sweep fell within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement, the firearm must be suppressed.

The Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed Derrick Warren’s convictions for four counts of rape and the trial court’s designation of him as a sexually-violent predator. Warren was tried for a 2012 attack on A.L.; a jury convicted him on the rape counts after hearing the victim’s testimony and DNA evidence linking Warren to semen and hairs collected in 2012. The court rejected Warren’s challenges to sufficiency and manifest weight of the evidence and upheld the sexually-violent-predator finding based on his pattern of sexually-motivated offenses, including later related convictions in 2013 and 2019.

The Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed Deon Slaughter’s convictions after a jury trial for third-degree felony strangulation and domestic violence. The court reviewed three assignments of error: objections to a police detective’s lay-opinion testimony about strangulation, admission of the victim’s testimony that another case against Slaughter was dismissed hours earlier, and a claim that the convictions were against the manifest weight of the evidence. The court held the detective’s testimony admissible under Evid.R. 701, found the dismissed-case testimony part of the immediate background and relevant under Evid.R. 404(B), and concluded the jury’s verdicts were not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

The Court of Appeals affirmed Marvin Rachells’s conviction for aggravated murder and related offenses after a jury trial. Rachells challenged the sufficiency and weight of the evidence, a late discovery disclosure of cell-phone mapping, and his lawyers’ failure to request a continuance. The court found overwhelming circumstantial and direct evidence tying Rachells to the crime (vehicle and store video, clothing, DNA in the suspect vehicle, and the murder weapon in his safe), held the late disclosure was inadvertent and not prejudicial, and concluded defense counsel’s alleged omission did not create a reasonable probability of a different outcome.

The court reversed the trial court’s denial of Solomon Lewis’s timely petition for postconviction relief because the lower court failed to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Ohio law. Lewis had pleaded guilty and was sentenced; after a prior direct-appeal remand and resentencing he filed timely postconviction petitions. The trial court denied relief in a one-sentence entry without explaining the bases for the decision. The appellate court held that such an entry is insufficient under R.C. 2953.21(H) and remanded for the trial court to issue proper findings and conclusions.

The Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed Taze Lawrence’s convictions and sentences after he pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and aggravated robbery with three-year firearm specifications. The court rejected two challenges: (1) that the plea was invalid because the trial judge misstated which fines applied and failed to fully advise on fines, and (2) that the sentencing court failed to give full notifications required by the Reagan Tokes Law. The court found no prejudice from the partial advisements because no fines were imposed and the Reagan Tokes advisements could not practically affect Lawrence’s concurrent life sentence.

The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s denial of Stetson Franklin’s motion to suppress evidence found during a warrantless search of his vehicle after a traffic stop. Officers stopped Franklin for speeding, observed a loaded magazine in the center console, learned he was prohibited from possessing firearms, and summoned a drug dog. After Franklin was removed from the car, officers performed a protective sweep of the passenger compartment and discovered a loaded firearm. The court held the sweep reasonable given officer safety concerns and that the canine sniff did not unreasonably extend the stop.

The Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s denial of Christopher Etheridge’s 2025 petition for postconviction relief. Etheridge, sentenced in 2007 to life with parole eligibility after 28 years for aggravated murder and felonious assault following a guilty plea, argued the court failed to consider his youth at sentencing. The appeals court held his petition was untimely under R.C. 2953.21 because the direct-appeal transcripts were filed in 2008 and the 365-day filing window closed in 2009. The court concluded it lacked jurisdiction to consider Etheridge’s claim based on Ohio cases and therefore properly denied relief without findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed Datwan Hall’s conviction for domestic violence after a bench trial in South Euclid Municipal Court. The court held Hall was not entitled to claim self-defense because he uninvitedly entered the victim’s apartment, provoked the encounter by pushing past her and taking her phone, and thus created the situation that led to the altercation. The court also found trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to file a written notice of self-defense because asserting that defense would have been futile. Finally, the court concluded the State produced sufficient evidence, including testimony and injury photographs, to support the conviction.

The Eighth District Court of Appeals reviewed two Parma Municipal Court matters involving Michael C. Dunn. One case (drug charges) resulted in acquittal at trial, so the appeal is dismissed as moot. The court affirmed Dunn’s convictions for multiple traffic violations in the related traffic case. The appellate court held the municipal court had personal jurisdiction over Dunn because he was arrested, arraigned, and voluntarily continued to participate in proceedings, and it had subject-matter jurisdiction because the alleged infractions occurred in Broadview Heights and the traffic ticket satisfied rule requirements.

The Seventh District Court of Appeals affirmed most rulings in State v. Craft but reversed and remanded limited parts of the sentence. Ervin Tyrone Craft challenged speedy-trial computations, denial of his motion to suppress after a K-9 alerted to drugs during a traffic stop, and the validity of his no-contest plea. The court rejected his speedy-trial and suppression claims and found the plea valid because the record shows Craft understood the plea's consequences. However, the court found plain error at sentencing: the trial court merged two allied first-degree-felony counts but imposed a five-year sentence on each. The appeals court reversed the sentence and remanded for limited resentencing so the state may elect one merged count for sentencing.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals affirmed Warren D. Bartos’s convictions and sentence after he pled guilty to trespass in a habitation, possession of a fentanyl-related compound, aggravated possession of methamphetamine, and resisting arrest. The trial court accepted Bartos’s guilty pleas after a proper on-the-record colloquy and written plea form, and imposed the parties’ joint recommendation of one year of community control. Appellate counsel filed an Anders brief saying no non-frivolous issues exist; the appeals court independently reviewed the record, found the plea and sentence lawful, granted counsel’s motion to withdraw, and affirmed the judgment.

The First District Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded defendant Derrick J. Wilson’s convictions for multiple counts of rape and gross sexual imposition arising from allegations by his stepdaughter. The court upheld the convictions and most evidentiary rulings (including Mayerson Center and therapist testimony under the medical-diagnosis exception) but found sentencing error: the trial court failed to make the statutory findings required for consecutive sentences. The court vacated the consecutive nature of the sentence and remanded for resentencing limited to the consecutive-sentence findings.

The Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals affirmed Jerry Ray Blevins’s convictions for fourth-degree and second-degree aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine after a jury trial, finding the record contained substantial, credible evidence to support the verdicts despite the confidential informant’s criminal history and incentives. However, the court reversed and remanded the postrelease-control portion of the sentence because the trial court failed to orally advise Blevins at sentencing whether postrelease control was discretionary or mandatory and the consequences for violating it, as required by statute. The remainder of the sentence was left intact.