State v. Karnes, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2001)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 29, 2001
DocketCase No. 99CA042.
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Karnes, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2001) (State v. Karnes, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2001)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law.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State v. Karnes, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2001), (Ohio Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY This is an appeal from an Athens County Common Pleas Court judgment of conviction and sentence. The jury found George Karnes, defendant below and appellant herein, guilty of four counts of criminal nonsupport, in violation of R.C. 2919.21.

Appellant raises the following assignments of error for review:

FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:

"THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING THE STATE'S MOTION IN LIMINE PROHIBITING THE ADMISSION OF ALL EVIDENCE RELATED TO APPELLANT'S LEGAL CHALLENGES TO THE VALIDITY [OF THE] ORIGINAL SUPPORT ORDER."

SECOND ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:

"THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ORDERING APPELLANT TO PAY RESTITUTION AS PART OF [HIS] SENTENCE FOR THE NONSUPPORT CONVICTION."

THIRD ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:

"THE TRIAL COURT VIOLATED APPELLANT'S DUE PROCESS RIGHTS WHEN IT OVERRULED APPELLANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS, WHICH ASSERTED THAT THE COURT LACKED JURISDICTION OVER APPELLANT IN THE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR NONSUPPORT."

The following facts pertinent to the instant appeal are taken from our prior opinion in Karnes v. Karnes (Aug. 8, 1996), Athens App. No. 95 CA 1666, unreported.

"* * * On March 11, 1981, Nancy Karnes * * * filed a complaint for divorce and custody of the minor child born of the marriage. On December 1, 1981, the referee who presided over the divorce and custody hearing, recommended that [Nancy Karnes] be granted a divorce and receive custody of the minor child. The report also recommended that [George Karnes] pay child support. The trial court adopted the referee's report on January 8, 1982. In its judgment, the trial court did not specify which party was granted custody of the minor child or the exact amount of child support due per week.

[George Karnes] then filed a notice of appeal to this court. On March 8, 1983, this court filed a journal entry which found that on consideration of the record, assignments of error, and arguments of the parties, we did not find any error on the record, judgment and proceedings of the trial court. Thus, we affirmed the trial court's judgment.

On November 29, 1994, the Athens County Child Support Enforcement Agency filed a motion for contempt and/or judgment for child support arrearage. After a hearing before a referee, the referee filed a report in which she recommended that [George Karnes] be found in contempt and judgment be rendered in favor of [Nancy Karnes] for the unpaid child support. The trial court adopted this report on April 4, 1995. * * *."

In his 1996 appeal, appellant argued that the original January 8, 1982 judgment was unenforceable and void because the trial court did not specifically state who was to receive custody of the parties' minor child. In our decision, we noted that "[a] trial court may not simply `rubber stamp' a referee's report," and that "[a] judgment must contain a statement of relief to which a party is entitled." We stated that "[a] judgment which does not contain this statement of relief is erroneous and voidable." This court ultimately concluded, however, that because appellant had appealed the 1982 judgment, res judicata precluded appellant from again challenging the validity of the 1982 judgment.

On September 2, 1998, the Athens County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging appellant with four counts of criminal nonsupport. Two of the counts charged appellant with violating former R.C. 2919.21: (1) count one alleged a violation of R.C. 2919.21(A)(2);1 and (2) count two alleged a violation of R.C. 2919.21(B), which the state later amended to charge a violation of R.C. 2919.21(A)(4).2 The remaining two counts charged appellant pursuant to the current version of the statute: (1) count three alleged a violation of R.C. 2919.21(A)(2);3 and (2) count four alleged a violation of R.C. 2919.21(B).4 All four counts in the indictment alleged that appellant failed to provide support for a total accumulated period of twenty-six weeks out of one hundred four consecutive weeks.5

On January 27, 1999, appellant filed a motion to dismiss counts two and four of the indictment. Appellant argued that counts two and four were premised upon an invalid court order and thus, could not serve as a basis for the charges alleging that appellant failed to provide support to a person whom, by court order, he was legally obligated to support. Appellant argued that the order was invalid because the trial court merely incorporated the referee's report and did not separately state its own judgment.

On February 4, 1999, the trial court overruled appellant's motion to dismiss. The trial court stated that appellant should have challenged the validity of the trial court's 1982 judgment on appeal from the domestic relations case. Thus, the trial court concluded that appellant could not raise the issue in the instant case. Moreover, the court found that appellant failed to prove that the trial court's order requiring appellant to pay child support was somehow defective.

On April 22, 1999, the state filed a motion in limine seeking to prohibit appellant from presenting any testimony or evidence referring to appellant's repeated challenges to the validity of the trial court's 1982 divorce decree. The state asserted that res judicata precluded appellant from raising the issue of the validity of the divorce decree. Additionally the state claimed that any testimony or evidence referring to the matter would serve only to confuse the jury. The state further argued that prohibiting such testimony and evidence would serve the interests of judicial economy by denying appellant the opportunity to relitigate issues that have already been argued and decided.

At an April 26, 1999 hearing, appellant argued that the jury should be permitted to hear that appellant has not paid child support. Appellant asserted that he does not believe that the trial court's child support order constitutes a valid court order. The trial court disagreed, however, and on April 26, 1999, granted the state's motion in limine.

On May 7, 1999, the jury found appellant guilty of all four counts of nonsupport. Specifically, the jury found appellant guilty: (1) of failing to provide adequate support to his child under the age of eighteen for a total accumulated period of twenty-six weeks out of one hundred four weeks, a fourth degree felony, in violation of former R.C. 2919.21(A)(2); (2) of failing to provide adequate support to his child whom, by court order, he was legally obligated to support, a first degree misdemeanor, in violation of former R.C. 2919.21(A)(4); (3) of failing to provide adequate support to his child under the age of eighteen for a total accumulated period of twenty-six weeks out of the time period between July 1, 1996 and June 2, 1997,6 a fifth degree felony, in violation of R.C. 2919.21(A)(2); and (4) of failing to provide adequate support to his child whom, by court order, appellant was legally obligated to support, for a total accumulated period of twenty-six weeks out of the time period between July 1, 1996 and June 2, 1997, a fifth degree felony, in violation of R.C.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Karnes, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2001), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-karnes-unpublished-decision-3-29-2001-ohioctapp-2001.