State v. Conway

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 1844

Syllabus

SUCCESSIVE POSTCONVICTION PETITION — DEATH SENTENCE — APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL — R.C. 2953.21(J)(1) — FINAL, APPEALABLE ORDER: R.C. 2953.21(J)(1) generally provides indigent persons who have been sentenced to death with a statutory right to the appointment of counsel to litigate a postconviction petition for relief. Given the unique nature of capital proceedings, an appeal following a judgment on the merits of a postconviction motion may offer a remedy to a trial court's denial of the appointment of counsel, but not an adequate one in cases involving a death sentence. Thus, the trial court's order denying the motion for appointment of counsel of an indigent person who has been sentenced to death is a final, appealable order subject to appellate review under R.C. 2505.02(B)(4). However, because this court has previously interpreted R.C. 2953.21(J)(1) as requiring a trial court to appoint counsel only in the case of a timely-filed first petition for post-conviction relief—and in the absence of any challenge to that precedent in this case—the principles of stare decisis compel us to find the indigent defendant did not have a statutory right to the assistance of counsel to litigate his third petition for postconviction relief, despite having been sentenced to death. As such, the trial court did not err in denying his motion for appointment of counsel. Judgment affirmed.