May Trial Court Consider Motion for New Trial After Defendant's Conviction Has Been Upheld on Appeal?
State of Ohio v. Roland Davis, Case no. 2009-2028
5th District Court of Appeals (Licking County)
ISSUE:
* After a court of appeals has reviewed and affirmed the conviction of a criminal defendant on direct appeal, does the trial court in which the defendant was convicted have jurisdiction to consider a motion for a new trial based on discovery of new evidence where the legal claim asserted by the defendant in the new trial motion was not addressed in his direct appeal?
* Do Ohio’s intermediate courts of appeals have jurisdiction to review a trial court’s judgment denying a defense motion for a new trial in a death penalty case, or does the 1994 amendment to the Ohio Constitution that eliminated intermediate appellate review of capital cases require death penalty defendants to appeal such rulings directly to the Supreme Court of Ohio?