State v. Adams

431 N.E.2d 326, 69 Ohio St. 2d 120
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 3, 1982
DocketNos. 80-1760 and 80-1761
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 431 N.E.2d 326 (State v. Adams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Adams, 431 N.E.2d 326, 69 Ohio St. 2d 120 (Ohio 1982).

Opinions

Krupansky, J.

R. C. 2151.26 and Juv. R. 30 provide the procedural mechanism by which a juvenile offender may be “bound over” to the adult court, and then tried as though he were an adult. In the instant case, this procedure was followed in Summit County, but was followed for each juvenile as to the charges stemming from only one of the two robberies committed in Lake County. Therefore, the central issue raised by these appeals and cross-appeal is whether the defendants were effectively bound over on all the offenses for which they were ultimately indicted, thus rendering all their convictions valid, including the Lake County robbery for which each was never formally charged in the Juvenile Court. We conclude the defendants were properly bound over as to all the counts with which they were charged. Therefore, we must reverse in part the judgments of the Court of Appeals.

Prior to any action by the Lake County Juvenile Court or the Lake County Grand Jury, the Juvenile Court of Summit County conducted hearings to decide whether to relinquish jurisdiction over the defendants to the adult authorities of Summit County. The purpose of these hearings, which are civil in nature, was to evaluate the amenability of the defendants to rehabilitation within the juvenile justice system. In re Benn (1969), 18 Ohio App. 2d 97. The Juvenile Court of Summit County concluded the defendants would not be amenable to care in any facility designed for the supervision of delinquent children and proceeded to relinquish jurisdiction over the defendants to the Summit County Common Pleas Court. Since the defendants never questioned this relinquishment of jurisdiction by the Summit County Juvenile Court, the determinations made at these hearings (that the defendants would not be responsive to treatment within the juvenile system) is [124]*124res judicata in any adult court in the state of Ohio. Whitehead v. Genl. Tel Co. (1969), 20 Ohio St. 2d 108.

In the interest of judicial economy it is unnecessary for the Lake County Juvenile Court to make the same determination of binding over the same juveniles for like or similar crimes committed within a reasonably short period of time; especially since the defendants were incarcerated for three counts of aggravated robbery at the Ohio State Reformatory pending the proceedings in Lake County. To restate the above, once such a conclusion is reached by a Juvenile Court in any county in Ohio the transferred juvenile must be prosecuted by the adult authorities for felonies committed in other counties of the state, without first requiring that county to conduct another evaluation of the juvenile.

The Lake County Grand Jury and the Lake County Common Pleas Court also obtained jurisdiction over the defendants which was separate and distinct from the jurisdiction obtained as a result of the Summit County transfers. This second source of jurisdiction emanates from motions to relinquish jurisdiction filed in the Lake County Juvenile Court on January 4, 1978 pursuant to R. C. 2151.26 and Juv. R. 30. As stated previously, these motions were followed by oral hearings on September 21, 1978, which ended with the judge’s conclusion that the defendants should be tried as adults. The judge’s action was journalized on November 9, 1978 and indictments were filed against both defendants on November 14, 1978. The final step occurred on November 24, 1978 with the filing of nunc pro tunc journal entries to clarify the action which had been taken on September 21, 1978.

It is clear from the above the Lake County authorities complied with the necessary procedures required by R. C. 2151.26 and Juv. R. 30 to bind over each child in these two cases. Defendants contend, however, these procedures were properly completed only as to the charges initially filed in the Juvenile Court, and not as to those charges which first emerged with the grand jury indictments. Since the procedure was never specifically followed to relinquish jurisdiction over the defendants on the counts not filed in the Juvenile Court, defendants assert the Lake County Grand Jury and the Lake County Common Pleas Court lacked jurisdiction to act on [125]*125these matters. This assertion is patently illogical. As stated in State v. Klingenberger (1925), 113 Ohio St. 418, 425:

“Now grand juries have plenary and inquisitorial powers and may lawfully upon their own motion originate charges against offenders. * * * ”

In respect to this “plenary power” it is clear the grand jury was not exceeding its authority in returning indictments on charges which were not originally brought in the Juvenile Court. A more extensive reading of Klingenberger provides further support for this conclusion.

Klingenberger held when a felony charge against a minor is transferred from the Juvenile Court to the Court of Common Pleas, the grand jury is empowered to return any indictment proper under the facts submitted to it. The court went on to state that when the case was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas, that court “took jurisdiction rightfully for all purposes.” Id. In summarizing, the court in Klingenberger clarified the power of the grand jury by stating at page 426:

“In other words, the transfer from the juvenile court merely invoked the action by the grand jury, leaving that body free to return any indictment which conformed to the facts submitted to it in evidence.”

Applying the above criteria to the instant cause, it becomes apparent the grand jury possessed the power and the authority to indict the defendants for both robberies committed in Lake County, not just the robbery in which the charges were originally filed in the Juvenile Court.

Defendants claim the holding in Klingenberger is irrelevant to the case at bar since it was decided under G. C. 1681, while the present case was decided under R. C. 2151.26, a successor statute to G. C. 1681. We fail to see any merit in this assertion. While the precise words of G. C. 1681 and R. C. 2151.26 vary, the substance and aim of these two sections remain the same; both sections provide for transferring a child charged with a felony to the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas.1 Klingenberger is not only relevant, it is ac[126]*126tually dispositive of the present action. Klingenberger has not been overruled, and thus remains an effective enunciation of the law which we may not ignore. Klingenberger approved and followed. Defendants’ contention that an additional proceeding was mandated in order to bind them over on the charges not originally brought in the Juvenile Court, is not only contrary to the holding in Klingenberger, but also clearly misconstrues the import of R. C. 2151.26 and Juv. R. 30.

R. C. 2151.26(E) reads in part: “No child, either before or after reaching eighteen years of age, shall be prosecuted as an adult for an offense committed prior to becoming eighteen, unless the child has been transferred as provided in this section. * * * ” (Emphasis added.) This language speaks of a transfer of the child, and not the transfer of a particular cause of action. A review of Juv. R. 30 also speaks of the transfer of “a child” and not the transfer of a case or cause of action.2 Furthermore, R. C.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Green
2023 Ohio 4360 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)
In re E.S.
2023 Ohio 3473 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)
State v. Blevins
2023 Ohio 1824 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)
State v. Strickland
2023 Ohio 1252 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)
State v. Burns
2022 Ohio 4606 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2022)
State v. Smith (Slip Opinion)
2022 Ohio 274 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2022)
State v. L.A.B.
2021 Ohio 4323 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. Echols
2021 Ohio 4193 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. Smith
2019 Ohio 4671 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Weaver
2019 Ohio 2477 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Frazier
2019 Ohio 1433 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Easley
2016 Ohio 7271 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2016)
State v. Muhammad
2014 Ohio 5771 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. R.D.
2014 Ohio 5100 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. D.W.
2012 Ohio 4544 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Moore, 06-Ma-15 (3-12-2008)
2008 Ohio 1190 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Foust, 3-07-11 (10-29-2007)
2007 Ohio 5767 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2007)
State v. West
856 N.E.2d 285 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2006)
Smith v. Bradshaw
109 Ohio St. 3d 50 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Goins, Unpublished Decision (3-21-2005)
2005 Ohio 1439 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
431 N.E.2d 326, 69 Ohio St. 2d 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-adams-ohio-1982.