Back in the day, before Feb 1, 2007 when the Supreme Court of Ohio adopted the Model Rules-based Rules of Professional Conduct, Ohio had a Code of Professional Responsibility, made up of canons, disciplinary rules, and ethical considerations.  DR7-101 was titled “zealous representation of a client.”  All of us of a certain age, or a

Update: Read an analysis of the merit decision in the J.V. case here.

Ohio’s Serious Youthful Offender statute works like this.  The statute allows for a “blended” sentence, which is part juvenile disposition, part adult sentence. First, if warranted, in addition to the juvenile disposition, the juvenile judge imposes a stayed adult sentence on a

The Supreme Court of Ohio has signaled its intent to further address some issues dealing with failure to register under Ohio’s version of Megan’s Law and the Adam Walsh Act.

In 1994, when a convicted New Jersey sex offender raped and killed a neighbor’s child, New Jersey passed “Megan’s Law,” which required sex offenders to

In State v. Gunnell, the trial court granted a mistrial in a non-capital  murder case because during deliberations one of the jurors brought into the jury room independent research she had done on the internet on the definition of involuntary manslaughter.

At oral argument Justice O’Donnell asked why an alternate juror hadn’t been selected to