State v. Leary

351 N.E.2d 793, 47 Ohio App. 2d 1, 1 Ohio Op. 3d 152, 1975 Ohio App. LEXIS 5858
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 12, 1975
Docket5-75-19
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 351 N.E.2d 793 (State v. Leary) 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. Leary, 351 N.E.2d 793, 47 Ohio App. 2d 1, 1 Ohio Op. 3d 152, 1975 Ohio App. LEXIS 5858 (Ohio Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Cole, P. J.

This appeal involves the appropriate procedure for a prosecutor’s appeal from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence pursuant to the provisions of *2 the Criminal Rules and the statutory provisions of R. C. 2945.68 et seq.

Criminal Rule 12 (J) purported to create for the state an appeal “as of right” in two cases: (a) from the granting of a motion for the return of seized property and (b) from the granting of a motion to suppress evidence. The procedure therein set forth required only the filing of a notice of appeal within seven days after entry of the judgment on the motion and a prosecutor’s certificate that the appeal was not taken for purposes of delay and that the granting of the motion, in effect, destroyed any reasonable possibility of effective prosecution.

However, in State v. Hughes (1975), 41 Ohio St. 2d 208, the Supreme Court held as the basis for its decision that the state’s right of appeal is a substantive right which could be created only by a legislative grant and not by the adoption of a rule. Therefore, the question as to the existence of a state’s right to appeal has to be resolved by looking solely to the statutes.

In R. C. 2945.67 through 2945.70, the legislature has created a right of appeal in the state in certain specific cases including an appeal from a judgment on a motion to suppress evidence (R. C. 2945.70), but it has made that right conditional upon leave being obtained from the appellate court and not absolute. Therefore, to the extent that Criminal Rule 12 (J) purports to create an absolute right of appeal, it is an invalid exercise of the rule making power of the courts. However, such a conditional right to appeal does exist by virtue of statutory grant.

As to the procedure for effectually exercising this conditional right, the provisions of R. C. 2945.67 et seq. have been superseded by the Appellate Rules and here there is a valid exercise of tire rule making power.

In State v. Wallace, 43 Ohio St. 2d 1 (July 2, 1975), the court states, at page 2:

“* * * Substantially, the right [of appeal] does not now exist except upon the allowance of leave to appeal by the appellate court.

“In all other respects, the procedures outlined by R. *3 C. 2945.67 through 2945.70 are superseded by the requirements of the appellate rules. * * * In light of Hughes, we now hold that App. B. 5(A) is applicable to appeals by the state in criminal cases. * * *

“We also hold that the time within which a motion for leave to appeal must be filed is to be governed by App. B. 4(B).”

In the syllabus this is summarized as follows:

“A motion for leave to appeal by the state in a criminal case shall be governed by the procedural requirements of App. B. 5 and the time requirements of App. B. 4(B).”

Therefore the state’s right to appeal from a judgment on a motion to suppress evidence arises not by virtue of Criminal Buie 12(J), but solely by virtue of statute, and is not absolute but conditional upon leave being first allowed by the appellate court. The procedure for effecting the appeal is set forth in App. B. 5(A) which prescribes the procedure for obtaining leave to appeal from the appellate court and full compliance with this procedure is mandatory to effectively obtain that leave to appeal.

As part of this procedure, the state must file in the appellate court a motion for leave to appeal accompanied by certain specified supporting documents and containing certain necessary allegations as to the errors claimed. Concurrently, with the filing of this motion in the appellate court “the movant shall file with the clerk of the trial court a notice of appeal in the form prescribed by Buie 3 and file a copy of the notice of appeal in the court of appeals.” There are other provisions as to service of copies, etc., which must be observed. The important thing to note here, however, is that there must be a filing of both a motion and a notice of appeal. The older statutory procedural requirements have been completely superseded by these new provisions.

The next question arising concerns the appropriate requirements as to the time for filing the motion and the notice of appeal. The Supreme Court held in the Wallace case, supra, that the time limits of App. B. 4(B) provide a reasonable time schedule and these are therefore made applicable to such appeals.

*4 The normal time for filing a notice of appeal is within 30 days of the date of the judgment entry. However, there is a specific exception:

“* * * provided that in appeals under Criminal Rule 12 (J) * # # the notice of appeal shall be filed with the clerk of the trial court within seven days of the date of the entry of the judgment or order appealed from.” (App. R. 4[B].)

As we have noted, Criminal Rule 12 (J) specifically concerns a state’s appeal from an adverse judgment on a motion to suppress. It therefore is applicable here and the time for the state to file a motion for leave to appeal in the appellate court and the concurrent notice of appeal in the trial court is within seven days of the date of the judgment.

Moreover, the provisions of Criminal Rule 12(J) as to the prosecutor’s certificate in such appeals is a purely procedural requirement and is, therefore, a requirement to be met by the state in addition to the requirements of App. R. 5(A).

To recapitulate, we summarize the requirements for the proper prosecution of an appeal by the state in a criminal case from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence :

1. There must be filed in the court of appeals, within seven days of the order from which the appeal is taken, a motion for leave to appeal conforming in content with the requirements of Appellate Rule 5(A).

a. It must set forth the errors which movant claims to have occurred in the proceedings in the trial court.

b. It shall be accompanied by affidavits or such parts of the record upon which movant relies to show the probability error occurred.

c. It shall be accompanied by a brief or a memorandum of law in support of movant’s claims.

2. Concurrently there must be filed in the trial court a notice of appeal in the form prescribed by App. R. 3. This shall be accompanied by a certificate by the prosecutor that:

a. The appeal is not taken for purposes of delay and

b. The granting of the motion to suppress has rendered the state’s proof with respect to the pending charge *5 so weak in its entirety that any reasonable possibility of effective prosecution has been destroyed. (Crim. R. 12[J].) As to the officer who may sign the certificate, see Crim. R. 1'2(J), and Crim. R. 2, defining prosecuting attorney.

3. A copy of this notice of appeal and accompanying certificate of the prosecuting attorney shall be filed in the court of appeals with the motion for leave to appeal and accompanying papers.

4.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
351 N.E.2d 793, 47 Ohio App. 2d 1, 1 Ohio Op. 3d 152, 1975 Ohio App. LEXIS 5858, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-leary-ohioctapp-1975.