Ohio Criminal Appeals Lawyer Blog

The Ninth District Court of Appeals for Medina County dismissed an appeal because it was untimely. The Notice of Appeal had to be filed by January 10, 2011, but it was not filed until January 11, 2011. Appellate Rule 4 states that a Notice of Appeal must be filed "within thirty days of the later of the entry of judgment or order appealed."

The case was briefed, oral argument was requested by both parties and was set for June 2, 2011. The Ninth District Court of Appeals decided on September 30, 2011, that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case because the Notice of Appeal was filed a day too late.

There is no indication in the decision why it took the Court of Appeals eight months to figure out the Notice of Appeal was filed late (or how many tax dollars were wasted since counsel was appointed for the Defendant/Appellant, the Prosecutor's Office defended the appeal, and the Court of Appeals apparently heard oral argument on the case). Read the decision here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

Contact me 24/7 by sending an email to ohiocriminalappealslawyer@gmail.com

To timely appeal from a Sentencing Entry that meets the requirements of a Final Appealable Order, you need to file a Notice of Appeal within 30 days pursuant to Appellate Rule 4. Otherwise you would have to ask permission to appeal by filing a Motion for Delayed Appeal pursuant to Appellate Rule 5. You have to set forth your reasons for being late. The Court of Appeals could turn you down.

But there is still hope for those convicted years ago who never appealed from their Sentencing Entries. If your Sentencing Entry does not meet the requirements of a Final Appealable Order, you could ask for the Sentencing Entry to be corrected so it meets the requirements of a Final Appealable Order. THEN you could file a timely Notice of Appeal from that and have your appeal.

That is what happened in the Lucas County Case of James D. Lawson. Lawson was convicted in 1994. He never appealed. But he never had a Final Appealable Order either since the 1994 Sentencing Entry did not set forth how he was convicted. Lawson requested in 2009 that the Sentencing Entry be fixed so it was a Final Appealable Order. It was fixed and Lawson filed a timely Notice of Appeal from that fixed Entry - the first Final Appealable Order in his case!

The State filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. The State argued that Lawson's appeal was untimely but the Court of Appeals said the Notice of Appeal was timely filed within 30 days of the fixed Termination Entry. The State argued res judicata and that Lawson could have raised the issues he raises now back in 1994. No he could not, says the Court of Appeals, because he did not have a Final Appealable Order to appeal from. The State argued the doctrine of "laches" (his delay prejudiced the State), but the Court of Appeals said there was nothing Lawson could have appealed from until 2010 when he got his first Final Appealable Order in his case.

Were you sentenced years ago and now want to appeal? Maybe you can if you never had a Final Appealable Order. Read the decision in State v. Lawson, 2011-Ohio-4683, here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

Contact me 24/7 by sending an email to ohiocriminalappealslawyer@gmail.com

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.