State v. Bonilla

2014 Ohio 623
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 21, 2014
Docket2011 CA 46
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2014 Ohio 623 (State v. Bonilla) 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 v. Bonilla, 2014 Ohio 623 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Bonilla, 2014-Ohio-623.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

STATE OF OHIO :

Plaintiff-Appellee : C.A. CASE NO. 2011 CA 46

v. : T.C. NO. 98CR488

EDUARDO BONILLA : (Criminal appeal from aka JUAN RAMONE LOPEZ Common Pleas Court)

Defendant-Appellant :

:

..........

OPINION

Rendered on the 21st day of February , 2014.

ELIZABETH A. ELLIS, Atty. Reg. No. 0074332, Assistant Prosecutor, 61 Greene Street, Xenia, Ohio 45385 Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee

ROBERT ALAN BRENNER, Atty. Reg. No. 0067714, P. O. Box 341021, Beavercreek, Ohio 45434 Attorney for Defendant-Appellant

FROELICH, P.J. [Cite as State v. Bonilla, 2014-Ohio-623.] {¶ 1} Eduardo Bonilla, aka Juan Ramone Lopez,1 appeals from a judgment

of the Greene County Court of Common Pleas, which denied his motion to vacate his

conviction for want of subject matter jurisdiction. For the following reasons, the trial

court’s judgment will be affirmed.

{¶ 2} In 1999, Bonilla was found guilty, after a jury trial, of seven offenses,

including complicity to commit aggravated murder, complicity to commit murder, and

complicity to commit kidnapping. The charges stemmed from plans to kidnap, rob, and

murder Mark “Corky” Miller, a drug dealer, due to a large drug debt that Miller owed to

Bonilla, his Chicago supplier. Bonilla, in turn, was being threatened by his own supplier if

Bonilla did not get the money that was owed. Miller and one of Bonilla’s co-conspirators

were killed during a shoot-out in a Beavercreek apartment on October 4, 1998, as Bonilla

and others attempted to kidnap Miller.2

{¶ 3} At Bonilla’s sentencing, the trial court merged several of the offenses and

imposed consecutive sentences totaling life plus thirty years in prison. We affirmed

Bonilla’s convictions on direct appeal. State v. Bonilla, 2d Dist. Greene No. 99 CA 118,

2001 WL 236762 (Mar. 2, 2001). Bonilla subsequently sought postconviction relief,

challenging his sentence. The trial court denied the petition; Bonilla did not appeal. In

2005, Bonilla filed a motion for a new trial. We affirmed the trial court’s denial of that

1 Bonilla has used several aliases. At trial and during the hearing on his motion to vacate, he testified that his name is, in fact, Juan Ramone Lopez. For sake of consistency, we will continue to refer to him as Bonilla, the name under which he was indicted, tried, and convicted in this case. 2 A detailed account of the facts underlying Bonilla’s offenses was set forth in Bonilla’s direct appeal from his convictions. State v. Bonilla, 2d Dist. Greene No. 99 CA 118, 2001 WL 236762 (Mar. 2, 2001). 3

motion. State v. Bonilla, 2d Dist. Greene No. 2008 CA 68, 2009-Ohio-4784.

{¶ 4} On January 24, 2011, Bonilla filed a motion to vacate his conviction,

claiming, for the first time, that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over his case

because he was a minor (17 years old) on October 4, 1998, when the offenses occurred.

Bonilla supported his motion with a purported birth certificate from the Republic of

Guatemala for a Juan Ramone López, born in Malacatán, San Marcos, Guatemala, on

October 23, 1980, to Zuly Barrillas and Juan Ramón López. The court conducted a hearing

on the motion, during which Bonilla and the State presented additional evidence.

{¶ 5} After the hearing, the court overruled Bonilla’s motion. The trial court

noted that Bonilla’s motion met the definition of a petition for postconviction relief under

R.C. 2953.21, that the motion was untimely, and that Bonilla failed to demonstrate that the

untimeliness was excusable under R.C. 2953.23. The court further noted, however, that “a

conviction that is void for lack of jurisdiction may be attacked at any time,” but if

jurisdiction had been established at trial, then the conviction is not void and postconviction

relief procedures should apply.

{¶ 6} The court found that the evidence at trial established that Bonilla was an

adult at the time of the offenses. Bonilla had testified at trial that he was 21 years old, and

Stephanie Harden testified that, when she met Bonilla in the summer of 1998, Bonilla had

told her that he was 19 years old. Other testimony at trial supported the conclusion that his

birthday was in late August or September, not late October. Bonilla had presented no

argument or evidence at trial that he was a “child” at the time of the offenses.

{¶ 7} The court next considered the evidence submitted at the hearing on Bonilla’s 4

motion to vacate, which included testimony by Bonilla, Bonilla’s niece, and the investigating

detective, as well as documentation of Bonilla’s convictions in other Ohio courts. Upon

reviewing the evidence, the trial court stated, “One thing that has been clearly established by

the evidence is that the defendant is a liar and that nothing he testifies to can be taken for the

truth without corroboration. Two official documents [the birth certificate and a green card]

have been used by the defendant to establish his age; at least one of them is clearly a forgery

and fails to establish his true age.” While noting that the evidence “is perhaps insufficient

to establish his actual birth date with certainty,” the trial court found that the evidence

provided by the State was “sufficient to prove that the defendant was over the age of 18 at

the time of the offense, beyond a reasonable doubt.”

{¶ 8} Bonilla appeals from the trial court’s judgment. His sole assignment of

error claims that “the trial court erred by overruling [his] motion to vacate void judgment

for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to R.C. 2151.26(E) and State v. Wilson, 73

Ohio St.3d 40.”

{¶ 9} The subject matter jurisdiction of Ohio courts of common pleas is defined by

statute, pursuant to Section 4, Article IV of the Ohio Constitution. State v. Neguse, 71 Ohio

App.3d 596, 599, 594 N.E.2d 1116 (10th Dist.1991). “The criminal law jurisdiction of

common pleas courts is defined by R.C. 2931.02 and 2931.03, which grant common pleas

courts general original subject matter jurisdiction over the prosecution of all crimes which

take place within their geographical limits except for minor offenses where exclusive

jurisdiction has been vested in an inferior court.” Id. Bonilla’s charged offenses, if

committed by an adult, fell within the purview of the Greene County Court of Common 5

Pleas, General Division.

{¶ 10} R.C. 2151.23 provides exclusive original subject matter jurisdiction to the

juvenile court concerning any “child” who, on or about the date specified in the complaint, is

alleged to be a delinquent or unruly. Former and current R.C. 2151.23(A)(1). At the time

of Bonilla’s offenses, R.C. 2151.23(H) further provided:

If a child who is charged with an act that would be an offense if committed by

an adult was fourteen years of age or older and under eighteen years of age at

the time of the alleged act and if the case is transferred for criminal

prosecution pursuant to section 2151.26 of the Revised Code, the juvenile

court does not have jurisdiction to hear or determine the case subsequent to

the transfer. The court to which the case is transferred for criminal

prosecution pursuant to that section has jurisdiction subsequent to the transfer

to hear and determine the case in the same manner as if the case originally

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Related

Lopez v. Warden (Slip Opinion)
2018 Ohio 4061 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2018)

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2014 Ohio 623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bonilla-ohioctapp-2014.