Ohio

Ohio death penalty conviction upheld

Posted on July 01, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld the aggravated murder convictions & death sentence of James Trimble for the 2005 shooting deaths of his girlfriend, her seven-year-old son, and a Kent State University student who he had taken hostage while fleeing the scene from police...

Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Procedure

Posted on June 30, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court reminds us this morning that several amendments to the Rules of Procedure for appellate, civil, criminal and juvenile matters take effect this week. Justices voted 7-0 in approving the amendments earlier this week. The proposed amendments were published for two rounds of public comment...

Ohio Transportation Laws Implemented

Posted on June 30, 2009
We didn't see this locally, but the Columbus Dispatch ? courtesy of "bing" ? carried word of some new traffic rules going into effect tomorrow. "Beginning Wednesday, July 1st. 2009, drivers seeing a tow truck at the side of the road will have to move over and/or slow down, just as they have to for stopped police or fire vehicles...

Pending Ohio Legislation

Posted on June 30, 2009
There's been some media attention made the past couple of days about three bills pending in Ohio's legislature, so we thought we'd re-cap them for those who might be interested.The Columbus Dispatch, over the weekend, had an article discussing a bill introduced in the Ohio Senate that would allow emergency medical workers to draw blood from drunken-driving suspects...

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Ohio Supreme Court adopts disciplinary changes

Posted on June 23, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court announced yesterday the adoption of several amendments to the Rules for the Government of the Judiciary (Rule II) concerning grievances filed against Supreme Court justices and/or alleging campaign misconduct by any Supreme Court candidate (including incumbent justices)...

Public comment on new revised Ohio probate forms

Posted on June 23, 2009
The Supreme Court of Ohio will accept public comment until July 21 on proposed new and revised probate court forms that concern adoptions, change of name proceedings and protecting incapacitated adults. The new and revised forms:Incorporate changes because of updates in adoption law...

DNA testing for convicts not constitutional right

Posted on June 19, 2009
The Supreme Court yesterday afternoon held that convicted inmates had no constitutional rights to further DNA testing ?in hopes of proving their innocence long after having been found guilty of crimes and having had started serving their sentences.? ( MSNBC article) (USAToday article)That case was District Attorney's Office for Third Judicial Dist...

Washington Supreme Court withdraws ruling over judicial conflict

Posted on June 18, 2009
Robert Ambrogi, on Law.com's Legal Blog Watch this morning, has a post about the Washington Supreme Court's withdrawning a landmark ruling in a public records case in response to complaints that the opinion could benefit a separate suit filed by one of the justices who decided the case...

Bankruptcy Reform Act challenges

Posted on June 16, 2009
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act, which went into effect in April 2005, is said to have made some of the most substantial amendments to bankruptcy law since that code was enacted in 1978. It's also caused debate and controversy...

Texas sentences mentally retarded teen to 100 years

Posted on June 11, 2009
An 18-year old Texas teenager with "profound mental disabilities" was sentenced to 100 years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to five counts of sex abuse, including aggravated sexual assault, toward a 6-year-old neighbor, USAToday reported this morning...

Teenager convicted of aggravated murder

Posted on June 04, 2009
Todd Kendal Washington, age 17, was convicted of aggravated murder, felonious assault, and aggravated robbery yesterday, having pistol-whipped and robbed one victim on Aug. 22, and shooting & killing a second victim in front of the victim's girlfriend and two 4-year-old twins on Sept...

Supreme Court right-to-counsel decision

Posted on May 27, 2009
The United States Supreme Court yesterday overruled a long-standing police interrogation precedent set almost 25 years ago. (See ScotusBlog report) In its 1986 holding in Michigan v. Jackson, the Court had formulated the rule "forbidding police to initiate the interrogation of a criminal defendant once he/she has invoked his right to counsel at an arraignment or similar proceeding," reasoning

Revised Federal Forms

Posted on May 22, 2009
Who?d believe that, at one point, at least, there were over 500 forms in use in the federal judicial system. But after two years or work, U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger?s work group gotten thru them all, eliminating unused or duplicate formats, refining others, and updating the language to reflect rule changes in still others...

New Kentucky Rules of Attorney Conduct

Posted on May 20, 2009
The Supreme Court of Kentucky on April 16th. announced comprehensive revisions to its Rules of Professional Conduct, to become effective July 1, 2009. This is the first time in nearly 20 years that such vast changes have been made, and include a new rule that requires attorneys knowing of professional misconducts of other attorneys or judges to report then to the Court...

Ohio Court Rule Revisions

Posted on May 20, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court and lawyers practicing in this state also have a number of Court Rules going into effect on July 1st., among them Rules of Appellate, Civil, Criminal, Juvenile Procedure, and Rules of Evidence as follows:Appellate Rules 22 & 43; Crim 10, 24, 43 & 59; Civ 4, 16, 26, 33, 36 & 37, 45 and 86Civil Rules 10 & 86; Evidence 104, 106, 404, 411, 602-604, 606, 610-612, 701, 703, 801,

"Open Discovery" in Ohio

Posted on May 20, 2009
"Open discovery" is essentially full disclosure of all evidence, reports, etc., between opposing parties in a legal action. In civil matters it's one story and pretty much matter of fact, but that's not the case in criminal cases where there's been debate between the factions for more than a decade...

Supreme Court Juvenile Life Sentencing Update

Posted on May 15, 2009
Our post last Monday about the U.S. Supreme Court's agreeing to hear the two Florida juvenile life sentence cases in determining whether life in prison is an acceptable consequence for juvenile offenders, has more information that we'd like to pass along in anticipation of the Court's consideration this Fall...

Juvenile Life Sentences to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on May 11, 2009
In September 2005, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty "cruel & unusual punishment" for juvenile offenders under the age of 18 and unconstitutional in Roper v. Simmons. This, the Court had said, by its "having established the propriety, and affirmed the necessity, of referring to 'the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society' to determine which

New Federal Statutory Deadlines

Posted on May 11, 2009
President Obama signed H.R. 1626 last Thursday amending 28 federal statutory deadlines, making them consistent with the time-computation amendments to the Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Procedures approved by the Supreme Court last March 26...

Ohio Supreme Court upholds Statute of Fraud Requirements of Signed Agreements

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Ohio Supreme yesterday held that "a party's breach of an alleged promise to sign an agreement does not eliminate the requirement under Ohio's statute of frauds that a contract is enforceable only if it is in writing and has been signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought...

Attorney-Client privilege in Ohio public records law

Posted on April 23, 2009
Investigatory reports prepared by law firms on behalf of public agencies are attorney-client privilege and not subject to mandatory disclosure under the state's public records act, the Ohio Supreme Court held Tuesday.[ Opinion ] "ORC §149.43(A)(1)(v)," part of Ohio public records law, "excepts 'records the release of which is prohibited by state or federal law' from the definition of 'public

'Abandonment' of Ohio state highway easements

Posted on April 23, 2009
Exclusive authority to abandon or vacate portions of a state highway in Ohio, lies with the Department of Transportation; a court local court of common pleas does not have jurisdiction in deciding whether a state highway easement has been abandoned the Ohio Supreme Court held lastTuesday...

Amendments to late Ohio attorney registration rules of court

Posted on April 21, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court announced the adoption of amendments to its rules on attorney registration and registration fees Monday. The biggest change was the shortening of the amount of time an attorney on active or corporate status has, after missing his, or her, bi-annual registration deadline, to file their late paperwork and fees before being suspended, from 90 days to 60 days...

Ignition Interlock Device Legislation

Posted on March 20, 2009
Ignition interlock devices are back in the news this passed week.New Mexico was the first state to mandate their use back in 2005, and Alabama, South Dakota, and Vermont still don't carry the restriction; but in between there is a vast array of legislative applications to the concept, the National Conference of State Legislatures shows...

Federal Judicial Conference's New Ethics Code

Posted on March 18, 2009
The United States Judicial Conference yesterday adopted a revised Code of Conduct for federal judgeships taking effect on July 1, 2009. The revised Code, condensing the original seven rules, or canons, to five and rewording the language into "plainer, clearer English," builds on the dictate of its first canon that judges should uphold the integrity & independence of the judiciary...

Classification of Government Documents Legislation

Posted on March 18, 2009
According to Ohio Representative Steve Driehaus, there are over 107 different classifications for government documents, and each department or agency has its own system of classification and restricting access to even unclassified material.Legislation Driehaus has proposed, though, would change some of that or at least make it more uniform...

New & Improved Ohio Supreme Court Website

Posted on March 10, 2009
As mentioned last week, the Ohio Supreme Court unveiled its new website design yesterday."Visitors will notice a more user-friendly design targeted to a larger judicial audience," the Court's announcement read. Court Administrative Director Steven C. Hollon also noted that users should also be aware of the slightly revised URL or website address to http://www...

Ohio 1st. District Sex Offender Registration Decision

Posted on March 05, 2009

Ohio Supreme Court URL changes

Posted on March 02, 2009

Ohio Supreme Court indigent defense rules for capital cases

Posted on February 20, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court earlier this week announced amendments to rules governing the appointment of counsel for indigent defendants in capital cases. In Ohio only lawyers qualified & registered by the Supreme Court can be appointed to defend an indigent person in death penalty cases...

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