Monday, April 27, 2015

Cases from April 3 – April 17, 2015

Cases from April 3 – April 17, 2015

Welcome back readers and fellow litigators!  I’m a little behind (you can thank tax day and the resulting depression for this…oh and this silly little thing I call a “career” and “case work,” but I digress), BUT the Court hasn’t released too many decisions so it’s okay.  I was originally only going to include through April 9th in this blog, but then I realized that the decisions released on April 17 contained exactly one criminal decision, a decision on a writ, and two civil cases, that I might as well add them to the bunch and just catch up entirely.

So, with that being said; here we go:

Cases covered this blog:
April 3, 2015:
April 6, 2015:
April 9, 2015:
April 17, 2015:
  1. Forbush v. HCR Manor Care, Inc. et al. – WD-14- 071
  2. State Ex Rel. Miller v. Judge Ruth Ann Franks – L-15-1042

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Appellant Scottie Greer appealed the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea under Crim R. 32.1.  Appellant entered an Alford plea of guilty for one count of Domestic Violence, a felony the fourth degree.

FOR THE NON-LAWYER: An Alford plea is a plea in which a person maintains their innocence, but pleads guilty to a reduced charge due to the risks associated with going to trial.

A few weeks after his plea, Appellant filed a pro se motion to withdraw his plea, and his Trial Counsel filed a motion the next day.  The Trial Court held a hearing and at the conclusion of which, it denied Appellant’s motion.

Appellant argued the following assignment of error:
1) THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT DENIED APPELLANT’S MOTION TO WITHDRAW HIS PLEA BECAUSE IT WAS CONTRARY APPLICABLE LAW [sic].

In determining whether there is a reasonable and legitimate basis for allowing a defendant to withdraw his plea, there are a number of factors a trial court should consider:
(1) whether the state would be prejudiced by withdrawal;
(2) the representation afforded to the defendant by counsel;
(3) the extent of the Crim.R. 11 plea hearing;
(4) the extent of the hearing on the motion to withdraw;
(5) whether the trial court gave full and fair consideration to the motion;
(6) whether timing of the motion was reasonable;
(7) the reasons for the motion;
(8) whether the defendant understood the nature of the charges and potential sentences; and
(9) whether the accused was perhaps not guilty or had a complete defense to the crime.

By the way, Trial Courts are encouraged to liberally grant pre-sentence motions to withdraw a plea.

Appellant argued that he was scared and that’s why he took the plea, but at the withdraw hearing, Appellant now said he was no longer scared; that the State’s case was weak, and he wanted to go to trial.  The State countered with this was “buyer’s remorse” and that there was no legitimate basis for withdrawing the plea.

The Court found that Appellant pointed to no new evidence or defense and only made a bald assertion of innocence.  A mere change of heart is not enough to withdraw your plea.  The Court affirmed the Trial Court’s denial of Appellant’s motion to withdraw his plea.

Comments: Not much to say about this one; withdrawing a plea can be difficult depending on the Court and the Judge.  Don’t plea unless you REALLY want to.

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DISCLAIMER: I did work on this appeal.

Appellant Logan May appealed the Trial Court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence.

Toledo Police Officer Picking spotted Appellant riding his bicycle in a “high crime” area that also has “high-gang activity,”  (it’s worth mentioning that basically the entire city is “known” as a “high crime” area but I digress).  Officer Picking approached Appellant and informed him that he was illegally operating his bicycle at night without lights.

Officer Picking noted that Appellant appeared to be nervous despite their conversation being “calm” and just a “normal conversation.”  Officer Picking asked if he could pat Appellant down over concerns for his safety.  Appellant consented to the search and as he went to step off of the bike, his shirt lifted up and revealed a concealed firearm tucked in his waistline.  Appellant was arrested and charged with Carrying a Concealed weapon.  As he was being put into the cruiser, Appellant stated “I should have just open carried.”

Appellant filed a motion to suppress evidence, arguing that the stop and search of Appellant was not conducted under the authority of a warrant and did not rise to the level of an exception to the warrant requirement under the State and Federal Constitutions.  After the Trial Court denied the motion, Appellant entered a plea of No Contest to the charge and appealed.

Appellant argued the following assignment of error:
1) The Trial Court erred in denying Appellant’s motion to suppress.

An Appellate Court reviews a motion to suppress as a mixed question of facts and law.  The Trial Court’s findings of fact are given deference in that they will not be questioned so long as they are supported by competent, credible evidence.  The question of law, however, is reviewed with no deference to the conclusion of the Trial Court.  That’s a lot of legalese that really means this: The Appellate Court will accept the Trial Court’s findings of facts so long as they are supported by the record, and take those facts and apply the law on its own.

Appellant did not contest the legality of the stop.  However, Appellant argued that the Officer impermissibly extended the length of the stop by asking Appellant to step off the bike.

There is an exception to the warrant requirement for investigative stops even without probable cause to arrest so long as the officer reasonably concludes that the individual is engaged in criminal activity.  The United States Supreme Court has held that: the scope and duration of a traffic stop must be carefully tailored to its underlying justification and last no longer than necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop.

The Court found that Officer Picking’s questions were tailored to the underlying purpose of his stop and did not extend the stop beyond the permissible time.

Appellant also argued that his consent to search should not have been accepted as Appellant clearly did not feel free to leave and his consent was compelled by the circumstances.

It is true that the State does not satisfy the burden of proving consent to search by showing a mere submission to a false claim of lawful authority.  The factors that go into determining if consent to search was freely given are:
(1) the voluntariness of the defendant’s custodial status;
(2) the presence of coercive police procedures;
(3) the extent and level of the defendant’s cooperation with the police;
(4) the defendant’s awareness of his right to refuse to consent;
(5) the defendant’s education and intelligence; and
(6) the defendant’s belief that no incriminating evidence will be found.

(…I have a lot of lists today…)

The Court found that there was no evidence of coercive police procedures in this case and that both Appellant and the Officer testified that the conversation between them was “calm.”  The fact that the two were standing in a public street and Appellant was not physically restrained also weighed in on the Court’s decision.  The Court found that Appellant’s consent to be searched was freely and voluntarily given.

The Court affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress.

Concurring Opinion: This case contains a concurring opinion from Judge Singer. Having a judge write a separate opinion is a rare enough event that I feel the need to comment on it.  A concurring opinion is written separately by a judge who agrees with the majority’s opinion, but normally wishes to point out something the majority opinion did not address.

In this case, Judge Singer concurred, but wrote separately to express concerns that their decision might led to justify unlawful detentions or “fishing expeditions” based on nothing more than a mere bicycle infraction.  Judge Singer pointed out that, in this case, the time between the stop and the appearance of the weapon was extremely short, implying that had there been a longer time period here, the outcome might be different.

Comments: As I worked on this case, I will refrain from saying much here.  This case is a nice overview of suppression and investigatory stop case law, but I like the Lentz case from a couple of weeks ago much better…for…probably obvious reasons…

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DISCLAIMER: I represented the Appellant in this case.

Appellant Manuel Mathis appealed his conviction of Receiving Stolen Property after jury trial.

The Victim, “Frank” was restoring his 1966 Chevrolet El Camino at Wood County Collision.  As of May 31, 2013, Frank had sunk approximately $42,000 into his restorative efforts and the project was one day away from completion.

On May 31, while Frank was working on the vehicle at Wood County Collision, two unknown males approached and admired the vehicle.  Later that night, the owner of the business received a phone call that the security system had been triggered.  When the owner arrived, he observed that the 24 gauge, double sided overhead door that weighted several hundred pounds had been broken and the steel gate cut off of the building.  It was determined that whoever broke into the business had to be in possession of heavy duty equipment.  Notably, the only properly stolen was Frank’s 1966 El Camino.

Frank offered a reward for the return of his vehicle on Facebook and Craigslist.  Shortly after posting the reward, Frank received a call from a restricted number.  The caller, later identified as Appellant.  After asking Appellant a number of verification questions, Appellant confirmed that he did know where Frank’s car was and that he could return it.  However, Appellant was insistent that there be no police involvement.

Frank and Appellant met at a gas station where Appellant hand drafted a purported contact that he had Frank sign.  The contract read that Appellant was entitled to the reward money and that Appellant would not be held liable for anything connected to the vehicle.  Appellant again insisted that there be no police involvement.  Appellant had the contracted notarized outside of Frank’s presence.

However, the police were notified of these events and met Appellant while he was en route transporting the stolen vehicle in his tow truck.  The El Camino was stripped, badly damaged, and covered in oil to inhibit fingerprints.

Appellant stated that he was simply returning the vehicle in the normal course of his operation of a towing business.  However, after further questioning, Appellant first stated that he discovered the vehicle inside a garage at an abandoned home, but then said it was actually next to the garage and he was unable to recall the location of said garage.  Appellant would later testify at trial that a person named “Steve” told him about the car and in response, Appellant towed the vehicle from a location at a corner on Cherry Street in Toledo.

Appellant raised the following assignments of error:
1) The state presented legally insufficient evidence to sustain appellant’s conviction for receiving stolen property.
2) Appellant’s conviction fell against the manifest weight of the evidence.

There isn’t much to analysis here.  The Court found that the evidence was sufficient, especially given Appellant’s actions of repeatedly demanding the reward money, demanding no police involvement, having the victim sign an unenforceable contract and then having it improperly notarized.  Add that to Appellant’s story changing every time he was asked and the Court found no reason to overturn Appellant’s conviction.

Comments: No comment.

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Termination of parental rights case.  It’s a civil case, but I’m going to talk about this one.

Both Mother and Father appealed the termination of their parental rights over J.K. and K.K. (and in case you have not noticed, all minors are referred to by initials only).

When K.K. was born, she tested positive for opiates and cocaine and marijuana.  Mother admitted to not seeking any prenatal treatment during pregnancy for fear of her drug use being found out.  Mother and Father also admitted active use of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and suboxone (being completely honest when I say this is the first time I’ve seen that last one before).  This also necessitated the youngest being put on methadone for a time.

The Lucas County Children Service Board (LCCS or CSB) filed for an emergency shelter care hearing and filed a complaint in abuse , dependency, and neglect.  A Guardian Ad Litem was appointed as both a GAL and Attorney for both children.

To say that the Parents’s participation in reunification programs was lacking would be understating the problem just a tiny bit.  From the opinion, the Parents were both found in contempt at least once, neither successfully completely…any real part of the case plan, both had only about two months of actual compliance, and at one point, both simply disappeared.  LCCS moved to terminated the Parents’ parental rights to the children and sought permanent custody of the children.

At the hearing, Mother appeared and waived her rights to a hearing on LCCS’s motion.  She signed the forms, the Trial Court made sure such a waiver was knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligent, and then permitted her and her attorney to leave.  Father failed to appear for the hearing.  LCCS put on their case and at the end, the Trial Court terminated the parental rights of both parents.

…both parents then appealed.  …because, why not, I guess…after all, there’s no better time to fight for your kids than after the Trial Court has already taken them away…forever…

Appellants collectively raised a single assignment of error:
1) The termination of Appellants’ parental rights was not in the best interest of the child because there was a conflict between the wishes of child one and the report and recommendation of the Guardian ad Litem and there was no separate attorney appointed for child one.

The amazing thing about this is; this is not only a legitimate issue, but it’s a good one.

So, the GAL is appointed to represent the “best interests” of the children.  Many times, the GAL also serves as the children’s attorney.  However, if a child’s wishes differ from the recommendation of the GAL, the Trial Court is required to appoint a separate attorney to represent the legal interest of the child.

However, the Court noted that this issue had never been raised in the Trial Court, meaning the argument has been waived for all but “plain error.”  Plain error is routinely used in the criminal area of law, but it can be used in the civil area as well “to prevent a manifest miscarriage of justice, and where the error complained of, if left uncorrected, would have a material adverse effect on the character of, public confidence in, judicial proceedings.”

The GAL’s report stated that J.K., the oldest, refused to state his wishes “although he tells me he is going to live with a relative soon.”  The GAL provided no testimony into J.K’s wishes or if J.K. was ever even asked what his wishes were.

Ohio Law REQUIRES a Juvenile Court consider the wishes of the child as expressed directly by the child or through the child’s GAL, with due regard for the maturity of the child.  Typically the failure to address this warrants reversal.  J.K. was seven years old, more than capable of expressing his wishes.

HOWEVER; we’re under the plain error standard.  What is that, you ask?  Well, that means that it’s in the Court’s discretion whether it wants to notice the error or not.  That means the Court can simply say “Well, that’s error, but we choose not to notice it.”  That’s what happened here.  The Court stated that even if the Trial Court had done things properly, the Court saw nothing on the record that would lead it to believe that another outcome was possible, especially since neither Appellant participated in the trial.

Because the outcome of the case would not have changed even if the Trial Court had done things correctly, the Court affirmed the Trial Court’s decision.

Dissenting Opinion: This case contains a Dissenting Opinion.  Unlike a Concurring Opinion like we had earlier, a Dissent is an opinion that disagrees with the majority.  In this case, Judge Jensen wrote separately to state that he would have reversed the Trial Court’s decision and remanded the case back in order for the Trial Court to ascertain the child’s wishes as required under the statute and determine if it needed to appoint separate counsel to the child.  Judge Jensen noted that other Appellate Courts have found that the provisions of R.C. §2151.414(D) are mandatory and must be scrupulously observed.

Judge Jensen noted that the GAL specifically requested that J.K. be allowed to maintain contact with his parents, which is a request that cannot be legally mandated.

Comments: I hate the “plain error” standard, and this case highlights why.  I think the Court got this one wrong and there’s no diplomatic way to put it.  This is mandated by the Revised Code that the wishes of the children be considered.  The Trial Court did not consider them, of if it did, it didn’t note it in its journal entry.  Would it have affected anything?  No; but skirting the line of a potential conflict of interest between the GAL and the children is worth remanding the case back all of the time.

I’ve had a case involving this very issue.  It was not raised at the Trial Court (on the record anyway) and yet, there was NO discussion of “plain error” in that case, (http://lcapps.co.lucas.oh.us/ Courts/Appeals/DecisionsPDF/6490.pdf if you’re interested).  Clearly the Court was not enamored with the parents, and who would be?  Still, I disagree with this outcome entirely.  The last thing LCCS needs is that feeling that they can do whatever the heck they want to.

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This is an appeal from the Juvenile Court involving the determination that E.M. was an abused child.

Appellant, the mother of E.M. admitted using heroin while pregnant.  The month prior to E.M. being born, Appellant went to the hospital to detox and was prescribed Subutex.  E.M. was born with Subutex in her system, but neither E.M. or Appellant was found to have heroin in their systems.  After E.M.’s birth, she was placed in the care of her maternal grandparents.

Within weeks, Lucas County Children Services (LCCS) filed a complaint in abuse, dependency, and neglect.  The magistrate found E.M. to be an abused and neglected child.  Appellant filed an objection to the magistrate’s order, claiming that a finding of dependency was the only proper finding.  The Trial Court reversed the magistrate’s finding in part by finding E.M. to be an abused and dependent child.  Specifically, the Trial Court found that using heroin approximately five weeks before birth, when the fetus was viable, exposed the child to an illegal substance and considered the child, or any similarly situated child, to be abused.

Appellant asserted a single assignment of error on appeal:
1) The trial court erred in holding that when a mother exposes her viable fetus to an illegal substance, that child, when born, is per se an abused child.

R.C. §2151.031(D) defines an abused child as a child who “[b]ecause of the acts of his parents, guardian, or custodian, suffers physical or mental injury that harms or threatens to harm the child’s health or welfare.”  A Trial Court’s determination that a child is abused, neglected, or dependent, must be supported by clear and convincing evidence.  Clear and convincing evidence requires proof which “produce[s] in the mind of the trier of facts a firm belief or conviction as to the facts sought to be established.”

Basically, clear and convincing evidence is somewhere between “preponderance of the evidence” and “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  I’m not even kidding; this is a definition some case law gives us…

The Court looked through case law and found that a finding of abuse has only been made when a child is born with an illegal substance found in their system, creating a substantial risk to the health of the child.  In this case, there were no such issues.  The record contained no evidence that the Subutex found in E.M.’s system was harmful in any way, or that the illegal drug use harmed E.M. at all.  The Court also found the Trial Court’s holding that any illegal drug use within 5 weeks prior to birth was per se abuse was unreasonable.

The Court reversed the Trial Court’s finding that E.M. was an abused child.

Comments: You might be wondering why this matters as E.M. was still found to be a dependent child?  Being found to be an abused child opens up so many more doors for LCCS to come in and take the children and move to terminate your parental rights; getting that wrongfully found NEEDS to be fixed, as it was in this case.  I’m clearly not condoning or recommending any expecting parent go off and use drugs, but if that drug use miraculously did not harm the child, then you simply cannot find the child to be abused because you’re angry the mother was so reckless.  Solid reversal here.

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Accelerated Appeal involving the Trial Court’s denial of Appellant’s motion for prejudgment interest against Appellees.  Appellees moved for attorney fees and costs, arguing that this appeal was frivolous.

Assignment of error:
The trial court erred in not awarding pre-judgment interest against both Defendants-Appellees for their less than good faith efforts in pursuing settlement of Plaintiff-Appellant’s claim.

Issues raised within that assignment of error:
A. The trial court abused its discretion in ignoring the record of Defendant-Appellees’ conduct in denying Plaintiff-Appellant’s motion for prejudgment interest pursuant to R.C. 1343.03(C).
B. The trial court abused its discretion by misapplying the standard set forth in R.C. 1343.03(C).
C. The trial court abused its discretion through its unreasonable and arbitrary analysis.
D. It is appropriate for this court to determine the award of prejudgment interest pursuant to authority granted to it under App.R. 12.

Result: Affirmed; Request for Attorney Fees denied as the appeal, while not successful, was not frivolous.

Comments: I have been told recently at a meeting of the Bar Association’s Common Pleas Committee that this decision has some very important issues contained within.  Heck if I can understand any of them…if you are into this kind of case law, you’ll likely want to read the decision yourself…

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DISCLAIMER: I represented the Appellant in this case.

Appellant appealed his eleven month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of Attempted Gross Sexual Imposition.

Appellant was originally indicted with one count of Rape, a felony of the first degree.  After a number of pretrial conferences, Appellant entered a plea agreement which reduced the charge to the Attempted Gross Sexual Imposition, a felony of the fifth degree.  For those of you keeping score, a felony of the first degree is the highest degree of felony we have in Ohio (only below “unclassified felonies” like Murder and Aggravated Murder), while a felony of the fifth degree is the lowest degree of felony we have (right next to things like theft of anything worth over $1,000, and assaulting a Corrections Officer).

At sentencing, the Trial Court stated: “Obviously this victim was impaired and the defendant has received a huge benefit by the reduction that the prosecutor and the defense have agreed to. I think, in view of that, the appropriate sentence in this case is eleven months in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.”

Appellant raised the following assignment of error:
Appellant’s sentence is contrary to law.

R.C. §2929.11(A) lists the principals and purposes of sentencing as: “The overriding purposes of felony sentencing are to protect the public from future crime by the offender and others and to punish the offender using the minimum sanctions that the court determines accomplish those purposes…”  A Trial Court is expected to “reasonably calculated to achieve the two overriding purposes of felony sentencing … commensurate with and not demeaning to the seriousness of the offender’s conduct and its impact upon the victim, and consistent with sentences imposed for similar crimes committed by similar offenders.”

A Trial Court is also supposed to consider the seriousness and recidivism factors under R.C. §2929.12.  “Recidivism” is simply the likelihood of reoffending.  I’m quite certain it’s just a fancy word we created at some point just for the Criminal Justice system.

The basic argument was that the Trial Court had failed to properly consider R.C. §2929.11 and R.C. §2929.12 despite saying it had done so, based on the record.  The Court disagreed and affirmed Appellant’s sentence.

Comments: I had a line in my brief arguing that the Trial Court’s reliance on the deep reduction of the charge as a reason to send my client to jail was unwarranted since there are “many reasons a prosecutor may decide to reduce a charge so drastically.”  The Court of Appeals responded with: “We find appellant’s argument to be purely speculative and not supported by the record.”   …ouch.  BUT, I…can’t really say I disagree…appointed work is like being dealt a hand of cards and being forced to play it.

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Appellant nursing home is being sued by the estate of Mr. Forbush after dying allegedly due to the low standard of care he received at Appellant’s facility.

During the suit, Appellants moved to stay the case pending arbitration arguing that the parties were under an arbitration agreement.  Appellees opposed, saying more discovery was needed to determine if the arbitration agreement was enforceable.

The Trial Court denied Appellant’s motion by stating:
“The court has determined that this matter should not be stayed or referred to arbitration at this point. The parties shall engage in discovery. If, after engaging in discovery, the defendants feel that the facts here render this action referral to arbitration, they may renew their motion. But as for the present time, it is denied.
Defendants’ motion to stay pending arbitration is denied.”

Assignments of error:
I have no idea.  …no seriously, I have no idea.  The Court didn’t list them.

Before a Court of any kind can act on a case before it, it must have jurisdiction. Jurisdiction comes in two forms; personal and subject matter.  Personal Jurisdiction is jurisdiction over the parties.  Since Wood County is in the Sixth District, the Court of Appeals had that.

Subject Matter Jurisdiction, however, is whether the Court can actually have the case before it under statutes or the Constitution.

A Court of Appeals may only consider cases with a Final Appealable Order, defined as “an order which affects a substantial right, determines the action and prevents a judgment; affects a substantial right in a special proceeding; vacates or sets aside a judgment or grants a new trial; grants or denies a provisional remedy; determines an action may or may not be maintained as a class action; determines the constitutionality of a change to a statute; or arises in an appropriation proceeding.”

R.C. §2711.02(C) states that: “an order … that grants or denies a stay of a trial of any action pending arbitration, including, but not limited to, an order that is based upon a determination of the court that a party has waived arbitration under the arbitration agreement, is a final order.”

However, in this case, the Court found that as much as the Trial Court said Appellant’s motion to stay was “denied,” it really just continued the case for more discovery and left the door open for Appellant to refile tis motion upon completion of said discovery.

As such, the Court dismissed the appeal, finding the Trial Court’s order was not a final, appealable order.

Comments: I seem to remember the Court of Appeal’s Court Administrator once saying that questions on Final Appealable Orders was the topic he was asked about the most.  This really is a hard topic because there are so many pitfalls.  If you fail to meet the 30 day deadline to file an appeal, you are barred from appealing, except in criminal cases and juvenile delinquency cases, where you may file a request for a delayed appeal, leaving it up to the Court of Appeals as to whether you get to appeal or not.

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Relator Thomas Miller, pro se, filed an “Original Action in Procedendo” asking the Court to order the Respondent  to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law as to a Post-Conviction Relief motion he filed on December 17, 2014.  The petition was filed on February 23, 2015.

On February 25, 2015, Respondent issues findings of fact and conclusions of law.  Relator appealed and that case is currently pending before the Court.

Result: Wirt denied as moot.

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Whew…finally got a blog finished.  Hooray!  I’ll see you next time!

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