Olmsted Twp. v. Campanalie

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 5851

Syllabus

App.R. 9(C); Crim.R. 11; no contest plea; unavailable transcript; certification of record; abuse of discretion; presumption of regularity; knowing plea; voluntary plea; intelligent plea; journal entries; reconstructed record; plea colloquy; constitutional waiver; Boykin; silent record; municipal court; misdemeanor offenses; appellate review; settled statement. An appellant challenged a municipal court's certification of an App.R. 9(C) statement of proceedings following no contest pleas to misdemeanor offenses, asserting that the certification was invalid because it was completed by a judge who did not preside over the plea hearing and that the record failed to affirmatively demonstrate that the pleas were entered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. The appellate court held that App.R. 9(C) permits a trial court to settle and approve a statement of proceedings when a transcript is unavailable, even if the certifying judge did not witness the hearing, so long as the certification is supported by competent, reliable evidence. The court further concluded that contemporaneous journal entries, the settled App.R. 9(C) statement, and the absence of affirmative evidence of noncompliance with Crim.R. 11 supported the presumption of regularity, and a claimed lack of recollection of the plea colloquy was insufficient to rebut that presumption. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion, and the judgment was affirmed.