Too bad Judge O'Toole lost her bid to run for another term on the Eleventh District Court of Appeals. I will miss her dissents in which she stood up for defendants who missed the thirty day deadline for filing their notices of appeal.
Appellate Rule 4(A) states that you have to file a notice of appeal within thirty days (consult a criminal defense lawyer to help you determine when your notice of appeal is due). But what if you miss the thirty day time limit? Appellate Rule 5(A)(1) states that you can ask the court of appeals for permission to have your appeal, but 5(A)(2) states that you must "set forth the reasons for the failure of the appellant to perfect an appeal as of right."
But what if you are a defendant who has no money, is not highly educated, and who does not know the inner workings of our criminal "justice" system? You think you will get a break? Don't count on it.
In the case of State v. Latoya L. Williams, 2010-Ohio-4196, two court of appeals judges found a nineteen-month delay in filing for an appeal to be too much. So Latoya gets no appeal. None. As her reasons for her failure to get her notice of appeal filed within thirty days, Latoya pointed out that she is incarcerated. That seems to be a pretty good one. Can you imagine being locked in a cage and still being able to get things done like you do now? She pointed out that the law library has limited and outdated materials. Do you doubt her on that? And she pointed out that she has no formal training in the law. Okay, sounds reasonable enough. Maybe she was depressed about the fact that she was going to be locked up for four + years. Maybe she had medical or mental issues. Let her have her appeal, right?
Nope. No appeal. Two of the three judges decided that Latoya was not "diligent in taking the proper steps to protect her own rights." And that the reasons she gave for the delay did "not adequately justify waiting that length of time to initiate a direct appeal." Undoubtably these judges got where they are because they are very diligent, highly educated, did not possess or traffic in cocaine, and were never locked up in prison. Perhaps they just cannot relate to Latoya's plight.
Please read Judge Colleen Mary O'Toole's dissent here. Judge O'Toole wrote similar dissents in at least ten other cases.
If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private attorney. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.
