Ohio

State of Kentucky amends lethal injection protocol

Posted on February 19, 2010
In April 2008, the United States Supreme Court found that Kentucky's lethal injection protocol did not violate Ralph Baze or Thomas Bowling's Eighth Amendment rights against cruel & unusual punishment, because "it does not create a substantial risk of wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain, torture, or lingering death...

Ohio death penalty updates

Posted on February 02, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court and U.S. Southern Ohio District Court both denied stays of execution for Mark Brown yesterday.Brown last week was granted a motion to be included in a lawsuit challenging Ohio's lethal injection system, and, last Saturday, to "incorporate the entire record from Cooey v...

Ohio death penalty stay granted

Posted on February 01, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court this morning granted a stay of execution to Kerry Perez, "until exhaustion of all state post-conviction proceedings, including any appeals." (Here)Perez was found guilty of two death penalty specifications for aggravated murder in the commission of a violent felony in 2003 with the Supreme Court affirming last December...

Ohio state/federal death penalty case

Posted on January 29, 2010
U.S Southern Ohio District Court Judge Gregory Frost yesterday granted death row inmate Mark Brown's motion to join a lawsuit filed last month that challenges the State of Ohio's new lethal injection procedure, which includes a never-before-tried backup method that injects drugs directly into muscles...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Ohio Supreme Court/Public Utilities ruling

Posted on January 28, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio acted "reasonably and lawfully" in restructuring gas distribution rates for customers of Duke Energy and Dominion East Ohio. ( Text of Decision ) "Prior to 2008," the Court's summary said, "the rate formulas approved by the PUCO for Duke and Dominion East Ohio required the utilities to recover a

Standardized Ohio Domestic Relations Forms

Posted on January 21, 2010
Ohio has 88 counties. It also has as many different sets of domestic relations divorce and dissolution forms but currently no standardized forms across the state -- but that's soon going to change. The Ohio Supreme Court announced Tuesday that a subcommittee of its Advisory Committee on Children, Families & the Courts, has developed a set of forms which have now been published for perusal &

Amendments to Ohio Supreme Court's Rules of Appellate/Criminal Procedure

Posted on January 20, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court announced last Friday that it had submitted proposed amendments to its Rules of Practice & Procedures with the General Assembly which include changes to the criminal discovery process calling for more "open discovery" (Crim.R. 16) and several appellate rules of procedure to implement a procedure for en banc considerations in courts of appeals when separate three-judge

U.S. Supreme Court reinstates death penalty in Ohio case

Posted on January 14, 2010
The United States Supreme Court Tuesday reinstated the death penalty sentence for Frank Spisak's 1982 shooting spree at Cleveland State University, overturning a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in October 2006. ( Decision ) "(The Sixth Circuit)," the Court said, "erred in holding that the instructions and forms contravened Mills v...

Supreme Court rule amendments

Posted on January 13, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court released notice of a of revisions to brief and document preparation rules yesterday. They become effective on February 16, 2010.The Court's announcement highlighted major changes as including:Reduction in the number of words allowed for a Reply Brief on the Merits from 7,500 to 6,000...

Google Legal Scholar

Posted on January 11, 2010
For those of us really "living under rocks" somewhere?. Back in the middle of last November (Nov. 19, 2009 to be precise) Google Scholar was expanded to include free access to court cases and other legal information. Scholar, itself, was introduced back in 2004, "indexing the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines...

Ohio Supreme Court's New News Service

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court launched a new, comprehensive news delivery service earlier this week that expands access to information about the Supreme Court and Ohio Judicial System. [Court's Announcement ] By subscribing to specific categories of news, users will be alerted via e-mail or wireless text message when the Court releases information related to their specific topic(s) of interest...

New Ohio Laws

Posted on January 08, 2010
There have been at least three laws passed in the State of Ohio which haven?t gotten maybe as much media coverage as is warranted, but which we?ve been being asked about.SB 124 Transfers on Death Affidavits , Signed by Gov. Strickland on Dec. 28, 2009, to become effective in 90 days"? changes the transfer on death (TOD) designation instrument from a deed to an affidavit, to allow real property

Tri-State Court Rule Updates

Posted on January 08, 2010
Along with new laws going in effect, Ohio and Indiana, especially, from our area, have a number of changes in their court rules.Ohio Rule Amendments:Rule II for the Government of the Judiciary ( Judicial Disciplinary Procedure)Superintendence of the Courts Rules 80 thru 87, and Appendix H (Court Interpreters )Superintendence of the Courts Rule 51 and Standard Probate FormsOhio Traffic Rules and

Ohio "Open Discovery" Update

Posted on January 08, 2010
Near the end of the year, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Ohio Supreme Court had "approved amendments to Rule 16 of the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure that will require greater sharing of evidence between prosecutors and defense attorneys before a trial...

Ohio Supreme Court amendments to Rules of Practice

Posted on January 04, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court has adopted amendments to its Rules of Practice that implements a new numbering system and section/rule citation style. Arabic numerals instead of Roman numerals now designate different portions of the rules, and general categories are labeled as "sections" and specific portions of each section as "rules...

Amendments to Ohio Supreme Court's Rules Governing Procedure on Complaints & Hearings

Posted on January 04, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court, last March, adopted major revisions to its Code of Judicial Conduct On December 16, 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court adopted amendments to the Rules & Regulations Governing Procedure on Complaints & Hearings Before the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline to distinguish an opinion providing guidance under the former Code as a "Former CJC Opinion...

2009 Wrap Up

Posted on December 31, 2009
"Everyone" does it this time of year ? looking ahead -- From same-sex marriage in New Hampshire to payday loans in Kentucky, and all kinds in between, new state laws taking effect on New Year's Day stand the chance of affecting the way a lot of people live...

Hamilton County Common Pleas/Commissioner Dispute

Posted on December 30, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday issued an order staying the enforcement of the October 15, 2009 order by the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, In re Appointment of Special Legal Counselagainst Hamilton County Commissioners, "pending further order of the Court," Justice Maureen O'Connor dissenting and having would have denied a stay "until such time as one of the parties to the case

Ohio Post-release Control Corrections

Posted on December 24, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court once again visited criminal sentencing themes last Tuesday, clarifying requirement procedures for re-sentencing offenders when post-release controls were not properly addressed by the trial court. The case, State v. Singleton, held "in order to correct criminal sentences that do not properly impose a term of post-release control, the state's trial courts: 1) must conduct

Southwest Ohio SORN update

Posted on December 21, 2009
More than three years after Congress, in passing the "Adam Walsh Act," ordered stepped-up monitoring of sex offenders, an MSNBC article the first of the month said, only one state ? Ohio -- has succeeded in adopting the government's strict new requirements...

Ohio Supreme Court cell phone search ruling

Posted on December 16, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizures required police to obtain warrants before searching data stored in a cell phone that has been seized from its owner in the course of a lawful arrest, even when the search is not necessary to protect the safety of law enforcement officers or there are exigent circumstances...

Ohio certification program of court interpreters

Posted on December 11, 2009
The Supreme Ohio Court announced last Monday that it will begin certification of court interpreters as of Jan. 1, 2010, with Rules 80 through 87 and Appendix H of the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio going into effect on that date.The Interpreter Services Program is designed to provide assistance to judges and the courts statewide on issues of foreign language interpretation, and

Ohio BMV cancelling illegal immigrant vehicle registrations

Posted on December 10, 2009
Franklin County Magistrate Pamela Browning last Monday morning declined to grant a preliminary injunction against the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to prevent them from cancelling vehicle registrations of nearly 45,000 cars & trucks largely driven by undocumented immigrants...

Ohio's execution of Kenneth Biros

Posted on December 09, 2009
Ohio's new single-drug lethal injection protocol appears to have worked as expected yesterday morning in the execution of Kenneth Biros at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. An Associated Press article this morning said, "experts had predicted the single drug used, sodium thiopental ? used in many parts of the world to put pets down ? would take longer to kill than the

Ohio death penalty news

Posted on December 04, 2009
The Cincinnati and Miami Valley region was almost a virtual hotbed of capital punishment/ death penalty news & issues these past couple of weeks. Here's an overview updating for anyone who may have missed it. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the U...

Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas fee increases

Posted on November 23, 2009
Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas also announces it will be changing Local Rule 9 regarding security deposits for costs, effective December 1, 2009, and until further notice. (Here) Local Rule 9(A) reads: (1). Deposits for Civil Actions (non-foreclosure) will increase from $225...

Hamilton County Court of Domestic Relations rule amendment

Posted on November 23, 2009
Interested parties still have a day or two to comment on Hamilton County Court of Domestic Relations' proposed amendment of Local Rule of Guardians ad Litem, which can be viewed (Here). Comments will be received until Wednesday, November 25th. and should be directed to Court Administrator Lisa Dwenger via e-mail @ ldwenger@cms...

Southern District of Ohio Bankruptcy Rule Amendements

Posted on November 23, 2009
The Southern District U.S. Bankruptcy Court here in Cincinnati has posted amendment proposals to their Local Bankruptcy Rules (?LBR?) and has been entertaining submissions for public comment. The proposed amendments are available by clicking the links below...

"Special counsel" issue in Hamilton County, Ohio

Posted on November 19, 2009
Two of Hamilton County, Ohio's three county commissioners last week filed a petition with the Ohio Supreme Court asking that the high court block an order issued by the same county's court of common pleas, directing the Board to terminate using an outside law firm to represent the County in matters relating to various riverfront developments, including its "Banks Project...

Ohio execution method changed

Posted on November 19, 2009
For those who haven't heard, the State of Ohio announced last Friday that it was adopting a single-drug method to execute capital crime inmates instead of the 3-drug "cocktail" employed by 35 other states in the nation using lethal injection ? "wading," as the Associated Press referred to it, "into largely uncharted territory...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.