State v. Powers

2022 Ohio 2233
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 29, 2022
Docket30025
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2022 Ohio 2233 (State v. Powers) 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. Powers, 2022 Ohio 2233 (Ohio Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Powers, 2022-Ohio-2233.]

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF SUMMIT )

STATE OF OHIO C.A. No. 30025

Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE JACOB P. POWERS COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO Appellant CASE No. CR 20 12 3456

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: June 29, 2022

CALLAHAN, Judge.

{¶1} Appellant, Jacob Powers, appeals his conviction by the Summit County Court of

Common Pleas. This Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} On November 1, 2019,1 a complaint was filed in the Summit County Juvenile Court

that alleged that Mr. Powers was a delinquent child by virtue of committing acts that would

constitute rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02 if committed by an adult—a category two offense

under R.C. 2152.02(BB)(1). The complaint alleged that Mr. Powers committed those acts in 2016,

when he was sixteen years old; Mr. Powers was approximately two weeks from his twenty-first

birthday when the complaint was filed. The State of Ohio moved to dismiss the complaint on

November 12, 2019, one day before Mr. Powers’ twenty-first birthday, arguing that the juvenile

case should be dismissed “due to the fact that the named Defendant will [attain] the age of 21 on

1 The document bears the erroneous timestamp “2019 OCT 32.” 2

November 13, 2019; thus depriving the Juvenile Court of jurisdiction over the case.” The State

also represented that “[t]he appropriate court for this case to be filed in is the Summit County Court

of Common Pleas General Division.” The juvenile court dismissed the complaint without

prejudice on the same date, noting that “[Mr. Powers] will be 21 years old tomorrow and this Court

will no longer have jurisdiction.” On November 19, 2019, Mr. Powers was indicted for three

counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), but the trial court dismissed the indictment

without prejudice on June 11, 2020.

{¶3} On June 3, 2020, a second complaint alleging that Mr. Powers was delinquent based

on the same conduct was filed in juvenile court. Mr. Powers moved to dismiss the complaint,

arguing that because the juvenile court dismissed the first complaint, it lacked subject matter

jurisdiction over the second in light of the fact that he had turned twenty-one. The juvenile court

denied the motion. On November 25, 2020, the juvenile court transferred the case to the Summit

County Court of Common Pleas pursuant to R.C. 2152.10 and R.C. 2152.12(B), and on December

9, 2020, a second indictment issued that charged Mr. Powers with three counts of rape in violation

of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b). Mr. Powers pleaded guilty to one count, and the remaining two counts

were dismissed. The trial court notified Mr. Powers of his status as a Tier III sex offender/child

victim offender and explained his registration duties and residential restrictions that resulted from

that status.

{¶4} Prior to sentencing, Mr. Powers moved the trial court to apply R.C. 2152.82 instead

of R.C. 2950.01 with respect to his classification as a sex offender. The trial court did not rule on

his motion, but on June 3, 2021, the trial court sentenced Mr. Powers to a mandatory prison term

of three years and reiterated his obligations as a Tier III sex offender/child victim offender. Mr.

Powers appealed, raising two assignments of error. 3

II.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

THE [JUVENILE COURT] ABUSED ITS DISCRETION WHEN IT DENIED APPELLANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION IN CASE DL-20-06-00469[.]

{¶5} Mr. Powers’ first assignment of error argues that the juvenile court erred by denying

his motion to dismiss the second complaint filed in juvenile court because he had attained the age

of twenty-one years before he was apprehended. In effect, Mr. Powers argues that the juvenile

court did not have jurisdiction over the case in the first instance and, consequently, the transfer

and everything that followed were void.

{¶6} Juvenile courts have exclusive original jurisdiction “[c]oncerning any child who on

or about the date specified in the complaint * * * is alleged * * * to be a juvenile traffic offender

or a delinquent, unruly, abused, neglected, or dependent child * * *.” R.C. 2151.23(A)(1). See

also State v. Hudson, Slip Opinion No. 2022-Ohio-1435, ¶ 24. For purposes of R.C. Chapter 2151,

a “child” is generally one “who is under eighteen years of age[.]” R.C. 2151.011(B)(6). In the

case of an individual alleged to be a delinquent child, the jurisdiction of the juvenile court

terminates if the case is transferred for prosecution in the court of common pleas pursuant to R.C.

2152.12. See R.C. 2151.23(H). The procedure set forth in R.C. 2152.12 “constitutes the only

method by which a juvenile court may relinquish its exclusive original jurisdiction concerning a

delinquent child[,] * * * [and] absent a proper bindover procedure * * *, the juvenile court has the

exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over any case concerning a child who is alleged to be a

delinquent.” State v. Wilson, 73 Ohio St.3d 40, 44 (1995) (interpreting former R.C. 2151.26). 4

{¶7} Nonetheless, a juvenile court does not have jurisdiction over any portion of a

delinquency case, and the procedures related to transfer are inapplicable, under certain

circumstances:

If a person under eighteen years of age allegedly commits an act that would be a felony if committed by an adult and if the person is not taken into custody or apprehended for that act until after the person attains twenty-one years of age, the juvenile court does not have jurisdiction to hear or determine any portion of the case charging the person with committing that act. In those circumstances, divisions (A) and (B) of section 2152.12 of the Revised Code do not apply regarding the act, and the case charging the person with committing the act shall be a criminal prosecution commenced and heard in the appropriate court having jurisdiction of the offense as if the person had been eighteen years of age or older when the person committed the act. All proceedings pertaining to the act shall be within the jurisdiction of the court having jurisdiction of the offense, and that court has all the authority and duties in the case that it has in other criminal cases in that court.

(Emphasis added.) R.C. 2151.23(I). Similarly, R.C. 2152.02(C)(3) explains that for purposes of

R.C. Chapter 2152, “[a]ny person who, while under eighteen years of age, commits an act that

would be a felony if committed by an adult and who is not taken into custody or apprehended for

that act until after the person attains twenty-one years of age is not a child in relation to that act.”

In addition, like R.C. 2151.23(I), R.C. 2152.12(J) clarifies that “[i]f a person under eighteen years

of age allegedly commits an act that would be a felony if committed by an adult and if the person

is not taken into custody or apprehended for that act until after the person attains twenty-one years

of age, the juvenile court does not have jurisdiction to hear or determine any portion of the case

charging the person with committing that act.” (Emphasis added.)

{¶8} Commenting on the language of R.C. 2151.23(I), the Supreme Court of Ohio has

noted it “‘effectively remove[s] anyone over 21 years of age from juvenile-court jurisdiction,

regardless of the date on which the person allegedly committed the offense.’” (Emphasis in

original.) Bear v.

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

Related

State v. Roehrenbeck
2026 Ohio 797 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2026)
State v. Spencer
2023 Ohio 3359 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2022 Ohio 2233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-powers-ohioctapp-2022.