In Re Borntreger, Unpublished Decision (11-22-2002)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 22, 2002
DocketCase No. 2001-G-2379.
StatusUnpublished

This text of In Re Borntreger, Unpublished Decision (11-22-2002) (In Re Borntreger, Unpublished Decision (11-22-2002)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Borntreger, Unpublished Decision (11-22-2002), (Ohio Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

OPINION
{¶ 1} In this accelerated calendar case, appellant, Renee Borntreger, appeals from judgments entered by the Juvenile Division of the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas. On May 23, 2001, the trial court denied appellant's motion to withdraw her plea of true. The court's judgment entry of August 6, 2001, was the final disposition of the case and ordered appellee, Geauga County Job and Family Services, to continue its protective supervision of the children.

{¶ 2} Appellant is married to Keith Borntreger. The family has four children: Samantha, Alyshia, Anthony, and Calvin. Appellant is the stepmother of the three older children: Samantha, Alyshia, and Anthony, who were born during Keith's previous marriage. Calvin was an infant during these proceedings and is the natural child of Keith and Renee.

{¶ 3} Anthony was having behavioral problems in school. These problems occurred over the months proceeding the alleged incident at issue in this case. Eventually, appellant punished Anthony for his behavior by spanking him with a wooden paddle. The following day, Anthony's teacher noticed bruises on Anthony and sent him to see the school nurse. School officials then referred the matter to appellee.

{¶ 4} On May 9, 2001, immediately after receiving the case, appellee was granted emergency temporary custody of Anthony and Calvin. Appellee thought Calvin, only six months old at the time, would be unable to protect himself from potential abuse. Anthony and Calvin were placed with their paternal grandparents. The following day there was an initial hearing, where the court ended appellee's temporary custody of Calvin. Appellee retained temporary custody of Anthony until June 20, 2001, when the court returned custody to appellant and Keith Borntreger, while ordering appellee to have protective supervision of him.

{¶ 5} The initial complaint alleged that Anthony was "severely beaten" and contained a section alleging neglect. The wording of this complaint was amended to allege Anthony was "repeatedly struck," and the neglect portion was deleted. Appellant then pled "true" to the amended charges against her.

{¶ 6} Appellant appeared at the initial hearing without an attorney. The court asked appellant if she wished to proceed or retain an attorney. Appellant stated she wished to proceed.

{¶ 7} Anthony was appointed a non-attorney guardian ad litem after the initial hearing. The court never appointed an attorney for Anthony at any time during these proceedings.

{¶ 8} Eleven days after the initial hearing, appellant obtained Attorney Robert Zulandt to represent her in this matter. That same day, Mr. Zulandt filed a motion to withdraw appellant's plea. The trial court denied this motion without a hearing.

{¶ 9} Before addressing appellant's assigned errors, we will first address whether this court has jurisdiction to hear this appeal. Although not raised by the parties, there is a concern as to whether the judgments appealed from constitute final appealable orders.

{¶ 10} The trial court issued four critical judgment entries that are at issue in this case. Those judgment entries are (1) May 18, 2001 — the trial court awarded temporary custody of Anthony to appellee and ordered protective supervision of the remaining children, both on a preadjudicatory interim basis. The court also set the adjudicatory hearing for June 18, 2001. (2) May 23, 2001 — the trial court denied appellant's motion to withdraw her true plea. (3) June 20, 2001 — the trial court adjudicated Anthony abused and adjudicated all of the children dependent. The trial court suspended appellee's temporary custody of Anthony and ordered all four children to be placed under the protective supervision of appellee on a predispositional interim basis. The court also set the dispositional hearing for July 30, 2001. (4) August 6, 2001, the trial court continued appellee's protective supervision of the children and adopted appellee's case plan. The court also set the date of May 9, 2002, for the annual court review hearing.

{¶ 11} Appellant's notice of appeal was filed on September 4, 2001, within thirty days of the trial court's August 6, 2002 judgment entry. The notice of appeal indicated that appellant was also appealing from the May 23, 2001 judgment entry. For the following reasons, both of these judgments are properly appealed to this court.

{¶ 12} The May 23, 2001 judgment is a not a final appealable order. The Supreme Court of Ohio has held that a presentence order of a trial court overruling a defendant's motion for leave to withdraw his plea is not a final appealable order.1 The court noted that "if the overruling of the motion is not a judgment or final order disposing of the cause in the trial court, the appeal at this time is premature."2

{¶ 13} Here, the trial court denied appellant's motion to withdraw her true plea. Although this is not a criminal case, we hold that the same rationale should apply. Essentially, appellant's motion to withdraw her plea was a "presentence" motion, as there remained matters before the trial court that had not been disposed of. Therefore, the May 21, 2001 judgment entry denying appellant's motion to withdraw her true plea was not a final appealable order.

{¶ 14} The next three judgment entries all involve the granting, continuing, or terminating of temporary custody or protective supervision. In juvenile proceedings such as this, the Supreme Court of Ohio has held:

{¶ 15} "An adjudication by a juvenile court that a child is `neglected' or `dependent' as defined in R.C. Chapter 2151 followed by a disposition awarding temporary custody to a public children services agency pursuant to R.C. 2151.353(A)(2) constitutes a `final order' within the meaning of R.C. 2505.02 and is appealable to the court of appeals pursuant to R.C. 2501.02."3

{¶ 16} The May 18, 2001 judgment entry does not contain an adjudication. It does contain a grant of temporary custody on a preadjudicatory interim basis. However, since there is no adjudication, this judgment entry is not a final appellate order pursuant to the Supreme Court of Ohio's holding in Murray.

{¶ 17} The trial court issued a judgment entry on June 20, 2001. In this judgment entry, the court adjudicated Anthony to be an abused child and adjudicated all four of the children to be dependent children.

{¶ 18} Although the trial court made an adjudication in the June 20, 2001 judgment entry, it did not rule on disposition. The court ordered protective supervision of the children on a predispositional interim basis. Also, the case plan was adopted and "made binding on the parties on a predispositional interim basis." These are just some of the many instances in this judgment entry where the court acted on a predispositional interim basis. Finally, the trial court ordered that the matter would come for a dispositional hearing on July 30, 2001. All of these references indicate the trial court's clear intention was that the June 20, 2001 judgment entry was not a disposition.

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Bluebook (online)
In Re Borntreger, Unpublished Decision (11-22-2002), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-borntreger-unpublished-decision-11-22-2002-ohioctapp-2002.