State v. Jones

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 1455

Syllabus

Postconviction relief; successive petition; untimely petition; motion for leave to file motion for new trial; unavoidably prevented; Brady violation; Brady v. Maryland; suppression; suppressed evidence; ineffective assistance of counsel; work product; newly discovered evidence; res judicata; R.C. 2953.21; R.C. 2953.21(A); R.C. 2953.21(A)(1); R.C. 2953.21(A)(2); R.C. 2953.23; Crim.R. 33; Crim.R. 33(B). Judgment affirmed. The trial court properly denied appellant's untimely and successive petition for postconviction relief and his motion for leave to file an untimely motion for new trial because he failed to show that he was unavoidably prevented from discovering the evidence on which he relied. Appellant offered no affidavits from persons with firsthand knowledge establishing that an assistant prosecutor's interoffice memorandum had been suppressed or explaining when and how it was obtained. The memorandum did not refer to evidence and any contention that the assistant prosecutor's impressions were based on suppressed evidence was speculation. The memorandum was work product, not evidence that the State was required to disclose. Furthermore, appellant could not circumvent the \unavoidably prevented\ requirement by arguing in the alternative that if his trial counsel possessed the memorandum, counsel was ineffective in not using it. Arguments that could have been made on direct appeal or in his previous petition for postconviction relief were barred by res judicata. Appellant likewise failed to show that Larissa Taylor's affidavit could not have been obtained earlier, and her proffered account of the conflict did not undermine confidence in the verdict because it conflicted with the trial evidence and appellant's own statement to police. Any hearing on appellant's Crim.R. 33(B) motion for leave to file a motion for new trial would be an exercise in futility because the same \unavoidably prevented\ requirement applicable to an untimely, successive petition for postconv