State ex rel. Norris v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth.

2025 Ohio 583
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 20, 2025
Docket24AP-7
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2025 Ohio 583 (State ex rel. Norris v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth.) 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
State ex rel. Norris v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth., 2025 Ohio 583 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

[Cite as State ex rel. Norris v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth., 2025-Ohio-583.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

TENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

State ex rel. Robert Lee Norris, :

Relator, :

v. : No. 24AP-7

Ohio Adult Parole Authority, : (REGULAR CALENDAR)

Respondent. :

DECISION

Rendered on February 20, 2025

On brief: Robert Lee Norris, pro se.

On brief: Dave Yost, Attorney General, and Marcy Vonderwell for respondent.

IN PROHIBITION ON OBJECTION TO THE MAGISTRATE’S DECISION

EDELSTEIN, J. {¶ 1} Relator, Robert Lee Norris, initiated this original action requesting this court issue a writ of prohibition preventing respondent, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (“OAPA”), from undertaking any and all future parole screening procedures as to his case. He contends that the July 9, 1998 nunc pro tunc judgment entry controlling his term of incarceration is void because it was neither signed nor journalized by the sentencing court. OAPA moved to dismiss on the grounds of res judicata. {¶ 2} Pursuant to Civ.R. 53(C) and Loc.R. 13(M) of the Tenth District Court of Appeals, we referred this matter to a magistrate. The magistrate sua sponte converted the OAPA’s motion to a motion for summary judgment, see Civ.R. 12(B), provided the parties notice of the conversion, and gave the parties additional time to file responsive pleadings No. 24AP-7 2

and any Civ.R. 56 evidentiary materials. The magistrate issued the appended decision on November 6, 2024, including findings of fact and conclusions of law. In that decision, the magistrate determined that because Mr. Norris has challenged the facial validity of the July 9, 1998 nunc pro tunc judgment entry on multiple occasions in multiple jurisdictions, and in each instance, the courts determined that the July 9, 1998 nunc pro tunc judgment entry is valid and controlled Mr. Norris’s incarceration time, the claims raised in Mr. Norris’s petition for a writ of prohibition are barred by res judicata. Thus, the magistrate recommends that we grant OAPA’s motion for summary judgment on Mr. Norris’s claims, deny the requested writ, and deny Mr. Norris’s pending motions. {¶ 3} Mr. Norris now objects to the magistrate’s conclusions of law, as discussed in our analysis below. His objections were timely filed under Civ.R. 53(D)(3)(b). We must therefore independently review the objected-to matters and evaluate whether “the magistrate has properly determined the factual issues and appropriately applied the law.” Civ.R. 53(D)(4)(d). Mr. Norris does not object to the magistrate’s findings of fact. Having reviewed the record and the magistrate’s factual findings—and in the absence of any objection thereto—we find no error in the magistrate’s determinations of the facts and thus adopt them as our own. {¶ 4} Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. State ex rel. Novak, L.L.P. v. Ambrose, 2019-Ohio-1329, ¶ 8, quoting Civ.R. 56(C). “A writ of prohibition may issue to correct the result of a prior jurisdictionally unauthorized action ‘[i]f an inferior tribunal patently and unambiguously lack[ed] jurisdiction.’ ” State ex rel. Holman v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth., 2023-Ohio-692, ¶ 10, quoting State ex rel. Baker v. State Personnel Bd. of Rev., 85 Ohio St.3d 640, 642 (1999). OAPA has jurisdiction, through statutory authority, to conduct parole proceedings. See R.C. 2967.02 (OAPA “shall administer sections 2697.01 to 2967.28 of the Revised Code, and other sections of the Revised Code governing pardon, community control sanctions, post-release control, and parole”). {¶ 5} Through his objections, Mr. Norris argues the magistrate erred in concluding the OAPA has authority—i.e., jurisdiction—over future parole proceedings involving him. While acknowledging the principles of res judicata generally, Mr. Norris nonetheless objects “on the ground that there is a patent absence of an adequate state corrective No. 24AP-7 3

procedure in cases involving ‘substantial legal errors and inaccuracies’ in the inmate file which patently and unambiguously strips the [OAPA] of jurisdiction, power[,] and authority to act.” (Emphasis in original.) (See Nov. 18, 2024 Obj. at 1-3.) Broadly, Mr. Norris argues the magistrate’s decision is fundamentally unfair and implicates due process issues because the record demonstrates OAPA is relying on substantial inaccuracies in his file. (See Obj. at 2-20.) In support, Mr. Norris relies on this court’s decision in Brust v. Ohio Parole Board, 2023-Ohio-4104 (10th Dist.) for his position that OAPA has an obligation to investigate and correct any significant errors in his inmate record. (See Obj. at 4-5, 19-20.) {¶ 6} However, Mr. Norris misconstrues the holding in Brust as it applies to the instant matter. In Brust, this court followed the Supreme Court of Ohio’s holding in State ex rel. Keith v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth., 2014-Ohio-4270 (“Keith I”), and reiterated that “ ‘[w]here there are credible allegations, supported by evidence, that the materials relied on at a parole hearing were substantively inaccurate, the [OAPA] has an obligation to investigate and correct any significant errors in the record of the prisoner.’ ” Brust at ¶ 42, quoting Keith I at ¶ 28. The remedy for substantive inaccuracies at a parole hearing is a writ of mandamus to correct such errors if the inmate shows “(1) a credible allegation, supported by evidence, of a substantive inaccuracy or error in the materials relied on at a parole hearing, and (2) that the inaccuracy or error may have prevented the inmate from receiving meaningful consideration for parole, i.e., the allegedly erroneous information was material to the inmate’s parole request.” Brust at ¶ 43, citing State ex rel. Keith v. Dept. of Rehab. & Corr., 2018-Ohio-3128, ¶ 16. See also State ex rel. Ellis v. Ohio Adult Parole Auth., 2024-Ohio-2345, ¶ 5 (10th Dist.). {¶ 7} Here, however, Mr. Norris is not challenging a decision by the parole board that denied him parole. Nor does he seek a writ of mandamus to correct substantive inaccuracies or errors from a parole hearing. Instead, Mr. Norris requests a writ of prohibition enjoining OAPA from holding a future hearing because, he contends, the July 9, 1998 nunc pro tunc judgment entry controlling his term of incarceration is void, as it was not signed or journalized on the court docket until 2003. See Crim.R. 32(C) (“The judge shall sign the judgment [of conviction] and the clerk shall enter it on the journal.”). No. 24AP-7 4

{¶ 8} As the magistrate correctly noted, Mr. Norris has unsuccessfully challenged the validity of the July 9, 1998 nunc pro tunc judgment entry and the resulting sentence on multiple occasions. (See Appended Mag.’s Decision at ¶ 35.) Indeed, in two previous cases, the Fifth District Court of Appeals found that res judicata barred Mr. Norris from raising this argument again because courts in previous cases had already rejected it. See, e.g., State v. Norris, 2007-Ohio-2467, ¶ 10, 17 (5th Dist.); State v. Norris, 2018-Ohio-3482, ¶ 13-19 (5th Dist.). “ ‘Res judicata bars the litigation of all claims that either were or might have been litigated in a first lawsuit.’ ” State ex rel. Woods v. Jenkins, 2024-Ohio-1753, ¶ 7, quoting Hughes v. Calabrese, 2002-Ohio-2217, ¶ 12. {¶ 9} Because Mr. Norris has previously raised the same argument he alleges here, the magistrate properly determined that his petition was barred by res judicata. Woods at ¶ 8, citing State ex rel. Newell v. Gaul, 2013-Ohio-68, ¶ 2 (applying res judicata to a claim that was based on Crim.R. 32(C)). {¶ 10} Since Mr. Norris cannot demonstrate, as a matter of law, that his convictions and sentence are void, the OAPA does not lack jurisdiction over his parole proceedings. See Ellis at ¶ 6, citing State ex rel. McIntyre v.

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Related

State ex rel. Norris v. Adult Parole Auth.
2025 Ohio 5011 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2025)
Norris v. Ohio Dept. of Rehab. & Corr.
2025 Ohio 4750 (Ohio Court of Claims, 2025)

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Bluebook (online)
2025 Ohio 583, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-norris-v-ohio-adult-parole-auth-ohioctapp-2025.