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State v. Bush
| 2025-CA-78 | Appellant’s guilty pleas were not entered knowingly and voluntarily where his pleas were induced, in part, by the prosecutor’s promise to recommend a sentence that is contrary to law. Judgment reversed and remanded. | Lewis | Clark |
9/18/2026
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9/18/2026
| 2026-Ohio-3652 |
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State v. Meyers
| 2025-CA-70 | The juvenile court did not abuse its discretion in Case No. 25-CR-0105 when it transferred the case to the common pleas court’s general division. The record supports the juvenile court’s conclusion that appellant’s violent history and failure to respond to intervention in the juvenile system favored transfer for prosecution as an adult. The appellant’s conviction for aggravated robbery in Case No. 25-CR-0106 was based on sufficient evidence. In Case No. 25-CR-0106, the aggravated burglary and the aggravated robbery counts were not allied offenses of similar import subject to merger. The trial court erred by sentencing appellant on both the six-year and three-year firearm specifications attached to each of his aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery convictions. As conceded by the State, the trial court erred by imposing a consecutive sentence on the one-year firearm specification attached to the obstructing official business count. Because the matter must be remanded for resentencing, the remaining assignments of error, which assert sentencing errors, are moot. Judgment affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for resentencing. | Tucker | Clark |
9/18/2026
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9/18/2026
| 2026-Ohio-3655 |
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Wilson v. Rosales
| 2025-CA-54; 2025-CA-55 | In estate’s wrongful death action in which the decedent died after being struck by a police cruiser, two dispatchers and a police officer appeal the trial court’s denial of summary judgment based on statutory immunity under R.C. Chapter 2744. Genuine issues of material fact remain as to whether the first dispatcher who took the 911 call from the decedent acted recklessly towards the decedent, so the trial court did not err in denying summary judgment to the first dispatcher on the estate’s allegations of recklessness. However, no reasonable trier of fact could find that the first dispatcher acted wantonly toward the decedent, so the trial court erred in denying summary judgment to the first dispatcher on the estate’s allegations of wantonness. As for the second dispatcher who took the 911 call from the decedent and the police officer, no reasonable trier of fact could find that either acted recklessly or wantonly toward the decedent. The trial court erred in denying summary judgment to the second dispatcher and the police officer based on statutory immunity. Judgment affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. | Huffman | Clark |
9/18/2026
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9/18/2026
| 2026-Ohio-3657 |
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State v. Blankenship
| 2025-CA-99 | The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying appellant’s untimely motion for leave to file a delayed petition for postconviction relief. As grounds for postconviction relief, appellant asserted that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to argue that an “immunity agreement” prevented his trial and convictions. The trial court incorrectly concluded that appellant’s claim is barred by res judicata, because the immunity agreement was outside the record of appellant’s direct appeal. However, because the petition was untimely and appellant was not unavoidably prevented from discovering the immunity agreement underlying his postconviction claim, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition. Even if the merits of appellant’s claim could be considered, the record does not support appellant’s interpretation of the scope of the immunity agreement or a conclusion that trial counsel was ineffective. Judgment affirmed. | Hanseman | Clark |
9/18/2026
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9/18/2026
| 2026-Ohio-3651 |
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State v. Stargell
| 30489 | The trial court did not err in admitting and excluding evidence at the bench trial on appellant’s charge of interference with custody in violation of R.C. 2919.23(A)(1). The contested evidence concerned appellant’s asserted statutory affirmative defense that she had kept her children in violation of a juvenile court’s custody order to preserve the children’s health and safety. That statutory affirmative defense is available only to a defendant who entices or takes a child. Appellant kept or harbored her children, so she was not entitled to the defense. The contested evidence, which concerned the unavailable defense, was therefore irrelevant. Additionally, any error in the trial court’s evidentiary rulings was harmless. Appellant was tried by the court, which is presumed to have considered only properly admitted, relevant evidence. The record does not show that the trial court relied on improper evidence in rendering its verdict. Judgment affirmed. | Hanseman | Montgomery |
9/18/2026
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9/18/2026
| 2026-Ohio-3656 |
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