Ohio

Juvenile Life Sentencing Update

Posted on November 09, 2009
Aside from death penalty cases, a USA Today article this morning says, justices of the Supreme Court have never before found a penalty crossed the cruel-and-unusual punishment line. That may have changed this morning."Life sentences with no chance of parole are rare and harsh for juveniles tried as adults and convicted of crimes less serious than murder, and there are just over 100 prison inmates

Ohio Supreme Court upholds "intensive program prison" release

Posted on November 06, 2009
In a case echoing State v. Bloomer back in June, in which the Ohio Supreme Court held that trial courts "had a statutory duty to provide notice to offenders of post-release control at the sentencing hearing, and any sentence imposed without such notification is contrary to law and void," possibly allowing the release of as many as 15, 000 former prisoners now under post-release supervision, it

PACER redaction policies

Posted on November 05, 2009
For those who don't know what PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is, first of all, it is "an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and the U...

Kentucky Supreme Court sex offender residency case appealled

Posted on November 04, 2009
On October 1, the Kentucky Supreme Court joined those of both Ohio and Indiana in holding that sex offender residency laws could not be applied retroactively. But, by the end of the month, articles were appearing that probation & parole officers were being told to essentially ignore that decision and view an offender's living within 1,000 feet of a school, day-care center or playground as a

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Ohio Supreme Court's "special dockets" advisory committee

Posted on October 30, 2009
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer announced the creation of a 15-member advisory board charged with advancing the goals of Ohio's "specialized dockets program" last month. That board, chaired by Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Sage, who for the past 10 years has administered a substance abuse and mental illness docket that addresses felony-level offenders with a

Ohio reviewing mandatory supervision cases

Posted on October 29, 2009
Last June 9th., the Ohio Supreme Court again addressed the consequences of a trial court's failure to either notify an offender about post-release control at the time of sentencing or incorporating post-release controls into its sentencing entry. Also at issue was the application of ORC §2929...

Ohio death penalty stays

Posted on October 23, 2009
The United States 6th. Circuit and Southern Ohio District Courts, this week, joined to effectively postpone any executions in the state of Ohio at least until next Spring. On October 5th., the Sixth Circuit stayed the execution of Lawrence Reynolds scheduled for Oct...

MySpace evidence allowed by Indiana Supreme Court

Posted on October 19, 2009
The Indiana Supreme Court addressed a "novel question" last Thursday in ruling that prosecutors properly introduced electronic evidence from an accused murderer's MySpace page. ( Case ) The defendant had contended that the trial court abused its discretary authority when it admitted evidence of his MySpace postings, claiming it was inadmissible character evidence, citing Indiana Rule of

U.S. Supreme Court SORNA retroactivity case

Posted on October 15, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court, on Sept. 30th., granted certiorari to a case from the Northern District of Indiana which raises several constitutional challenges to the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) with respect to retroactivity...

Kentucky sex offender residency statute unconstitutional when applied retroactively

Posted on October 15, 2009
The Kentucky Supreme Court on October 1st. held that that state's sex offender residency restrictions prohibiting where offenders could live ? specifically near schools or daycare centers-- were unconstitutional when applied retroactively. (Court's Holding) ( Article) In its analysis the Kentucky high court referenced the Indiana Supreme Court's holding in State v...

Who can intervene in cases of "original jurisdiction"?

Posted on October 15, 2009
Courts of "original jurisdiction" are those having priority over other tribunals to decide a case; Black's Law Dictionary defines an "intervenor" as "one voluntarily entering a pending lawsuit because of a personal stake in the outcome." That clear cut it's presumably not always...

Municipality Ten Commandments suit

Posted on October 07, 2009
Suit has been filed against the City of Lockland, Ohio in federal district court for its display of the Ten Commandments outside of its town hall by a resident who "wants the sign removed and a court order to prevent any future displays of 'religious fables and myths'," a Cincinnati Enquirer article said this morning...

Ohio Supreme Court increasing filing fees

Posted on October 05, 2009
The Supreme Court of Ohio has also announced increases in filing fees to $100 from the currently charged $40, effective October 16, 2009 (Court?s Announcement) Rule XV of the Rules of Practice will require a $100 filing fee for filing a notice of appeal or cross-appeal, for filing an order certifying a conflict in a court of appeals, and for instituting an original action...

Ohio Supreme Court Traffic Rule Amendments

Posted on October 05, 2009
The Supreme Court of Ohio announced Friday the adoption of amendments to the Ohio Traffic Rules and a revised traffic ticket format. The amendments become effective Jan. 1, 2010, while actual use of the new ticket doesn't become mandatory until July 1, 2010, giving local law enforcement jurisdictions time to use current tickets until supplies run out before ordering and using the revised ticket.

Mandatory enhancements for repeat DUI offenders in Ohio

Posted on October 05, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court, last Wednesday, upheld a state law that imposes 10 additional days of mandatory jail time on a driver with a prior DUI conviction if that person refuses to take a chemical test after being arrested for a subsequent DUI violation...

Kentucky sex offender residency statute unconstitutional when applied retroactively

Posted on October 05, 2009
The Kentucky Supreme Court last Thursday held that that state's sex offender residency restrictions prohibiting where offenders could live ? specifically near schools or daycare centers-- were unconstitutional when applied retroactively. (Court's Holding) ( Article) In its analysis of the case the Kentucky Court also referenced the Indiana Supreme Court's holding in State v...

Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana cell phone legislation update

Posted on September 22, 2009
Three or four weeks ago we quoted a Columbus Dispatch article that commented that "the issue du jour for Ohio legislators appears to be making sure drivers keep their eyes on the road, not on a cell phone." At that time, Ohio had five bills related to cell phone texting & driving in its House, and a sixth in its Senate...

Federal sentencing guideline hearings

Posted on September 22, 2009
7th. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook last week joined a growing number of judges and prosecutors having the position that the federal sentencing guidelines are in need of revamping, especially in light of decisions made by the Supreme Court making them largely advisory several years ago beginning with U...

Notice of EEOC Proposed Rules

Posted on September 22, 2009
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was approved last Wednesday by a 2-1 vote. The 60-day public comment period on those proposed regulations will begin from the date when the notice appears in the Federal Register within the next couple of days...

New Ohio Juvenile Court "Youth Assessment System"

Posted on September 16, 2009
Ohio juvenile courts have a significant new tool at their disposal that has been developed by the Ohio Department of Youth Services and University of Cincinnati?s Center for Criminal Justice Research.The Ohio Youth Assessment System is a "streamlined, web-based system for assessing young offenders in determining appropriate dispositions, treatment, and levels of supervision, designed, in part, to

Internal Revenue Service Health Savings Account Rules

Posted on September 11, 2009
In final regulations issued, and effective, Tuesday, Sept. 8th., the Internal Revenue Service hopes to make it easier for employers to follow the rules for making comparable contributions to employees' health savings accounts (HSAs) -- as well as meet the consequences of breaking them...

Ohio estate tax legislation

Posted on September 10, 2009
The Columbus Dispatch this morning reported that another effort is under way to kill what critics call Ohio's "death tax." The Ohio chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a national advocacy group, is leading a push for an initiated statute to repeal the estate tax, having started the process last week by filing an initial petition with more than 1,000 signatures of registered voters and the text

Ohio criminal trial/DNA testing legislation

Posted on September 10, 2009
A Cincinnati Enquirer article this past weekend reported that a justice reform bill designed to prevent wrongful convictions and endorsed by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland also includes a controversial measure to expand the collection of DNA samples to those arrested on felony charges...

E-Verify Rules

Posted on September 10, 2009
A Wall Street Journal article, last Tuesday, reported that "agencies across the federal government were to start ordering contractors to use an electronic immigration system to verify the legal status of their roughly 3.8 million workers, barring an emergency stay from a federal appeals court in Virginia...

Ohio Supreme Court on post-release controls

Posted on September 02, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday released a Hamilton County appellant from post-release controls because he had completed serving his sentence in prison, and, pursuant to a 2007 precedent, declared he was no longer subject to resentencing. (See State v...

Ohio school inspection rules rescinded

Posted on September 02, 2009
Ohio's 2009 budget, as has recently been reported, contained provisions recinding "Jarod's Law" rules, which had been in effect since 2007, returning the conduct of school inspections to two inspections a year with the rules in effect before 2007 to be once again used as the guideline/standards...

Ohio breastfeeding case

Posted on September 01, 2009
In a case originally accepted to seek a review of whether Ohio law prohibits an employer from discriminating against a female employee because, or on the basis of , a new mother's lactation, the Ohio Supreme Court last Thursday none-the-less upheld its appeals court decision that the woman "was simply and plainly terminated as an employee at will for taking an unauthorized, extra break...

Proposed Ohio attorney "safekeeping" rule changes

Posted on August 31, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court has announced that it will be accepting public comment on a proposed rule change to an attorney's duty to safeguard client funds and property in which third persons claim an interest until Sept. 30. The proposed amendments to Professional Conduct Rule 1...

PACER assessment/update

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Federal Judiciary announced Monday that it has undertaken a year-long, comprehensive program assessment to identify potential enhancements to new & existing services access services. ( Here )

Ohio Supreme Court cases & advisory opinions

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday held that a request for copies of public records involving a juvenile were improperly denied without sufficient explanation as to the denial, but that a chief of police had acted reasonably because a judge had sealed the case...

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