In State v. Johnson, Justice Lanzinger asked whether the Ohio Constitution provides greater protection than the federal constitution requires. What did she mean by that? Let’s look at that In Sharper Focus.

In 1975, in Oregon v. Hass, 420 U.S. 714 (1975) the U.S. Supreme Court urged states to expand their constitutional doctrines to…

10/25/12 According to attorney Bill Gallagher, the trial judge again denied the motion to suppress in this case, and he plans to appeal again.

10/12/12. Further Update: According to a story in the Cincinnati Herald by Dan Yount, Sudinia Johnson, the defendant in the Ohio case, remains in prison. His attorney William Gallagher questions why…

A long time ago,  judges used to ride circuit, meaning go out into the district to hear cases.  The Supreme Court of Ohio is doing exactly that tomorrow, hearing cases at the Highland County Court House in Hillsboro. This is part of the Off-Site Court Program, started in 1987 by the late Chief Justice Tom…

Update: The merit decision in this case was handed down May 23, 2012. Read the analysis of the decision here.

On October 19 the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear oral argument in Jackson v. Bartec, Inc., which challenges the enforcement of Ohio’s smoking ban law, O.R.C. Chapter 3794. At issue in the…

As a torts professor, I enjoy teaching cases where the law of torts and contracts intersect. One such area is when a tort duty arises in favor of the intended beneficiary of a contract. The Supreme Court of Ohio has just released an opinion in one such case – Huff v. FirstEnergy Corp., 2011-Ohio-5083.

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Update: The merit decision in this case was handed down March  15, 2012. Read the analysis of the decision here.

 On October 19, the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear oral arguments in the case of State v. Dunn, 2011-0213.The issue in this case is whether a traffic stop made under the belief that…

On July 19, 2012, the Supreme Court issued a merit decision in this case.  Read the analysis of the decision here.

 On October 19, 2011, the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear oral arguments in State v. Gunnell,  2010-1636. The issue in the case is the proper standard in declaring a mistrial for…

Update: On March 13 2012, the Supreme Court of Ohio vacated the judgment of the court of appeals in this case, and remanded it back to the trial court to apply the holding in U.S. v. Jones, 132 S.Ct.945 (2012).  The last paragraph of this post questioned why the Ohio Supreme Court was hearing this…

This case was dismissed as improvidently certified on October 27, 2011.

On October 4, the Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Artisan Mechanical, Inc. v. Beiser et al, 2011-0052. The issue in this case is whether a trial court is required to hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve a factual…

Death penalty decisions from the Ohio Supreme Court are long, depressing, and different.  Long because the defendants raise every conceivable argument they can, even if the issues they raise have been decided many times. Depressing because of the facts and circumstances of the cases and the horror involved. Different because there is no denying it—a…