State v. Davis , 131 Ohio St. 3d 1 ( 2011 )


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  • [Cite as State v. Davis, 
    131 Ohio St.3d 1
    , 
    2011-Ohio-5028
    .]
    THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. DAVIS, APPELLANT.
    [Cite as State v. Davis, 
    131 Ohio St.3d 1
    , 
    2011-Ohio-5028
    .]
    Criminal law—Death penalty—Jurisdiction—Motion for a new trial—Pursuant to
    Sections 2(B)(2)(c) and 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution, a
    court of appeals has jurisdiction in a case in which a death penalty has
    been imposed to consider the appeal of a trial court’s denial of a motion
    for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence—A trial court has
    jurisdiction to decide a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered
    evidence in a case in which the imposition of the death penalty has been
    affirmed on appeal.
    (No. 2009-2028—Submitted June 8, 2011—Decided October 4, 2011.)
    APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Licking County, No. 09-CA-00019,
    
    2009-Ohio-5175
    .
    __________________
    SYLLABUS OF THE COURT
    1.    Pursuant to Sections 2(B)(2)(c) and 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio
    Constitution, a court of appeals has jurisdiction in a case in which a death
    penalty has been imposed to consider the appeal of a trial court’s denial of
    a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.
    2. A trial court has jurisdiction to decide a motion for a new trial based on newly
    discovered evidence in a case in which the imposition of the death penalty
    has been affirmed on appeal.
    __________________
    LANZINGER, J.
    {¶ 1} This appeal by defendant-appellant, Roland Davis, involves a
    capital case in which we are asked to determine two jurisdictional issues: (1)
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    whether a court of appeals has jurisdiction to consider an appeal of a trial court’s
    order denying a motion for a new trial in a death-penalty case and (2) whether a
    trial court has jurisdiction to consider a motion for a new trial1 based on newly
    discovered evidence in light of State ex rel. Special Prosecutors v. Judges, Court
    of Common Pleas (1978), 
    55 Ohio St.2d 94
    , 
    9 O.O.3d 88
    , 
    378 N.E.2d 162
    . We
    hold that the trial court would have had jurisdiction over Davis’s motion for a new
    trial based on newly discovered evidence and that the appellate court had
    jurisdiction to entertain the appeal of the denial of the motion for a new trial.
    Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the appellate court, and we remand this
    case to the court of appeals.
    I. Factual Background
    {¶ 2} A jury convicted Roland Davis of aggravated murder, murder,
    kidnapping, aggravated burglary, and aggravated robbery in 2005 in connection
    with the murder of 86-year-old Elizabeth Sheeler in her Newark, Ohio apartment,
    despite Davis’s contention that the perpetrator was his brother.                    Davis was
    sentenced to death, and this court affirmed his convictions and death sentence.
    State v. Davis, 
    116 Ohio St.3d 404
    , 
    2008-Ohio-2
    , 
    880 N.E.2d 31
    .
    {¶ 3} On January 14, 2008, the trial court dismissed Davis’s petition for
    postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing.                 The court of appeals
    affirmed the trial court’s judgment. 5th Dist. No. 2008-CA-16, 
    2008-Ohio-6841
    .
    We declined jurisdiction over his appeal. 
    122 Ohio St.3d 1409
    , 
    2009-Ohio-2751
    ,
    
    907 N.E.2d 1193
    .
    {¶ 4} On October 31, 2008, Davis filed a motion for leave to file a
    motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence. Davis alleged that
    1. Davis’s motion was actually titled “Motion For Finding Defendant Was Unavoidably
    Prevented From Discovering New Evidence Within 120 Days Of Verdict Under Ohio R.Crim. P.
    33(B).” Under Crim.R. 33, the defendant must file this type of motion to gain the court’s approval
    for filing the motion for a new trial when more than 120 days have passed since the verdict was
    handed down. We will, however, proceed to refer to defendant’s motion as a motion for a new trial
    throughout the bulk of the opinion.
    2
    January Term, 2011
    he was unavoidably prevented from discovering and producing the evidence at
    trial or within 120 days of the verdict, as set forth in Crim.R. 33(B).
    {¶ 5} The newly discovered evidence was the affidavit of a DNA expert,
    Dr. Laurence Mueller, a professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    Department at the University of California, Irvine. Mueller stated that he had
    reviewed the state’s DNA reports and tests, the testimony of the state’s DNA
    experts, and other DNA evidence in the Davis case. In his affidavit, Mueller
    concluded “with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that the DNA evidence
    recited in these reports and the testimony presented” at trial was questionable for
    four reasons: (1) the state’s DNA experts failed to account for the database “hit”2
    in the statistical analysis of the DNA test results, (2) there is no mention of
    laboratory error as a source of uncertainty in DNA profiling, (3) Meghan
    Clement, one of the state’s DNA experts, incorrectly testified that it was
    impossible for nonidentical twins to have the same DNA, and (4) the state’s
    experts overstated the value of the DNA evidence found on the bed sheets in the
    victim’s bedroom.
    {¶ 6} In his motion for a new trial, Davis argued that Mueller’s affidavit
    undermined the state’s DNA evidence, which was essential to its case against
    him.     Davis argued that the affidavit demonstrated that trial counsel were
    ineffective by failing to mount an effective challenge to the state’s DNA
    evidence. Davis also asserted that based on this new evidence, he “may be
    actually innocent of this capital offense.”
    {¶ 7} The trial court denied Davis’s motion. The court found that
    Davis’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel did not demonstrate that he was
    unavoidably prevented from procuring Dr. Mueller’s testimony within 120 days
    after the trial. The trial court also found that Davis failed to demonstrate that “but
    2. The “hit” is a statistic that scientists must account for in performing the database search.
    3
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    for trial error—the unavailability of Dr. Mueller’s testimony—no reasonable
    factfinder would have found him guilty.” The court stated, “Nothing in Dr.
    Mueller’s testimony suggests that Roland Davis can be conclusively excluded as
    the source of the DNA evidence. Neither does Dr. Mueller’s affidavit suggest
    that the DNA conclusively matches that of defendant’s brother.”
    {¶ 8} On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District held that the
    trial court did not err because the trial court lacked jurisdiction to act on a motion
    for a new trial. The court relied upon Special Prosecutors, 
    55 Ohio St.2d 94
    , 
    9 O.O.3d 88
    , 
    378 N.E.2d 162
    , in holding that “the trial court’s granting of
    Appellant’s motion for new trial would be inconsistent with the judgment of the
    Ohio Supreme Court, affirming Appellant’s convictions and sentence.” State v.
    Davis, 5th Dist. No. 09-CA-0019, 
    2009-Ohio-5175
    , ¶ 12.
    {¶ 9} We accepted Davis’s discretionary appeal on January 27, 2010, on
    one of two propositions of law presented: “When the issue to be decided by the
    trial court does not fall within the judgment on appeal, the trial court retains
    jurisdiction to decide the motion before it. Further, to meet due process, a trial
    court must be able to consider a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered
    evidence even after an appeal has been taken. U.S. Const. amend. XIV.”
    {¶ 10} We later ordered the parties to address “[w]hether the court of
    appeals had jurisdiction to consider the trial court’s denial of Davis’ motion for
    new trial based on newly discovered evidence under Section 2(B)(2)(c) and
    Section 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution.” 
    127 Ohio St.3d 1483
    ,
    
    2010-Ohio-6371
    , 
    939 N.E.2d 182
    .
    II. Analysis
    A. The Court of Appeals’ Jurisdiction
    {¶ 11} We will first address the question on which we ordered briefing,
    that is, whether the court of appeals had jurisdiction to consider Davis’s appeal of
    the trial court’s denial of his motion for a new trial in his death-penalty case.
    4
    January Term, 2011
    Subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be waived and is properly raised by this court
    sua sponte. State v. Lomax, 
    96 Ohio St.3d 318
    , 
    2002-Ohio-4453
    , 
    774 N.E.2d 249
    ,
    ¶ 17.
    {¶ 12} On November 8, 1994, Ohio voters approved an amendment to the
    Ohio Constitution to provide this court with direct appellate review of death-
    penalty cases. Section 2(B)(2)(c), Article IV, Ohio Constitution. Before the
    amendment, the Ohio Constitution granted jurisdiction to courts of appeals over
    appeals from a death sentence. Capital defendants were entitled to file an appeal
    as of right first to the court of appeals and then to file a second appeal as of right
    to the Ohio Supreme Court. The amendment eliminated direct review by the
    courts of appeals for all defendants sentenced to death for a crime that occurred
    on or after January 1, 1995. Section 3(B)(2), Article IV, Ohio Constitution.
    {¶ 13} Section 2(B)(2)(c), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution provides:
    “The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction as follows: * * * In direct
    appeals from the courts of common pleas or other courts of record inferior to the
    court of appeals as a matter of right in cases in which the death penalty has been
    imposed.”     (Emphasis added.)       Section 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio
    Constitution, however, provides: “Courts of appeals shall have such jurisdiction
    as may be provided by law to review and affirm, modify, or reverse judgments or
    final orders of the courts of record inferior to the court of appeals within the
    district, except that courts of appeals shall not have jurisdiction to review on
    direct appeal a judgment that imposes a sentence of death.” (Emphasis added.)
    {¶ 14} The General Assembly then amended R.C. 2953.02 to provide: “In
    a capital case in which a sentence of death is imposed for an offense committed
    on or after January 1, 1995, the judgment or final order may be appealed from the
    trial court directly to the supreme court as a matter of right.” (Emphasis added.)
    {¶ 15} The foregoing language limits the jurisdiction of the Supreme
    Court to the appeal of a judgment sentencing a defendant to death.
    5
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    {¶ 16} We upheld the constitutionality of the amendments changing
    appellate review of death-penalty cases in State v. Smith (1997), 
    80 Ohio St.3d 89
    ,
    104, 
    684 N.E.2d 668
    : “[T]he plain language of the amendments speaks of ‘cases
    in which the death penalty has been imposed’ and ‘judgment that imposes the
    sentence of death.’ * * * Section 2(B)(2)(c), Article IV and Section 3(B)(2),
    Article IV, Ohio Constitution. Thus the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the
    whole case, instead of counts, charges, or sentences.” (Emphasis deleted.) We
    did not, however, address postconviction motions in that opinion. We must now
    determine whether the constitutional requirement that we review all direct appeals
    of cases in which the death penalty was imposed includes review of appeals from
    a trial court’s order denying a defendant’s motion for a new trial.
    {¶ 17} Davis argues that the wording of the amendments is critical.
    According to him, the court of appeals lost jurisdiction over only those appeals
    taken from the judgment that imposed a sentence of death. He asserts that the
    court of appeals has jurisdiction to consider appeals from all other postjudgment
    motions.. Accordingly, Davis contends that the court of appeals properly ruled on
    his appeal from the trial court’s judgment denying his motion for a new trial.
    {¶ 18} The state points out that Davis fails to address the language of
    Section 2(B)(2)(c), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution in his argument. The state
    argues that every judgment in a case in which the death penalty was imposed must
    be appealed directly to the Supreme Court of Ohio. In support of this argument,
    the state asserts that Sections 2(B)(2)(c) and 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio
    Constitution should be read in pari materia. See State ex rel. Toledo v. Lucas Cty.
    Bd. of Elections (2002), 
    95 Ohio St.3d 73
    , 78, 
    765 N.E.2d 854
    , quoting Toledo
    Edison Co. v. Bryan (2000), 
    90 Ohio St.3d 288
    , 292, 
    737 N.E.2d 529
     (“ ‘Where
    provisions of the Constitution address the same subject matter, they must be read
    in pari materia and harmonized if possible’ ”). Thus, the state argues, if the two
    sections appear to be ambiguous when read together, this court must “make every
    6
    January Term, 2011
    effort to resolve this dilemma in a way that will preserve the amendment[s], and
    give [them] that effect which [it] conclude[s] was the desire of the electorate at
    the time of its adoption.” State ex rel. Rhodes v. Brown (1973), 
    34 Ohio St.2d 101
    , 103, 
    63 O.O.2d 189
    , 
    296 N.E.2d 538
    .
    {¶ 19} The purpose of Sections 2(B)(2)(c) and 3(B)(2), Article IV, Ohio
    Constitution, was to alleviate the general public’s dissatisfaction with the delays
    in enforcing the death penalty by eliminating the intermediate appellate review of
    those cases. See Smith, 80 Ohio St.3d at 100, 
    684 N.E.2d 668
    . However, as we
    noted in Smith, “the state has taken other steps to expedite the resolution of
    criminal cases, including capital cases, such as limiting the time within which to
    file postconviction petitions.” 
    Id.
    {¶ 20} Courts of appeals have routinely ruled on appeals of judgments
    denying motions for new trials in cases in which a defendant was convicted of a
    murder that occurred after July 1, 1995, and in which a death penalty was
    imposed. State v. Stojetz, 12th Dist. No. CA2002-04-006, 
    2002-Ohio-6520
    ; State
    v. Lindsey, 12th Dist. No. CA2003-07-010, 
    2004-Ohio-4407
    ; State v. Jackson,
    
    190 Ohio App.3d 319
    , 
    2010-Ohio-5054
    , 
    941 N.E.2d 1221
    ; State v. Bethel, 10th
    Dist. No. 09AP-924, 
    2010-Ohio-3837
    .
    {¶ 21} The Trumbull County Court of Appeals appears to have been the
    only court to address the jurisdictional issue in the context of a motion for a new
    trial in a capital case. State v. Jackson (May 13, 2010), 11th Dist. No. 2009-T-
    0050. In Jackson, the state filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the court of
    appeals did not have the authority to entertain the appeal because a decision
    denying a new trial in a death-penalty case can be appealed only to the Supreme
    Court. The court of appeals ruled on the motion before conducting oral argument.
    The court concluded: “[Section 3(B)(2), Article IV, Ohio Constitution] refers
    expressly to a specific judgment that a court of appeals does not have the
    authority to review; i.e., the final sentencing judgment which sets forth the order
    7
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    regarding the imposition of the death penalty. Given the narrowness of the
    jurisdictional exception in Section 3(B)(2), logic dictates that the provision was
    not intended to totally deprive a court of appeals of all authority to review a final
    judgment stemming from a case in which the death penalty was imposed. Rather
    the wording of Section 3(B)(2) supports the conclusion that an appellate court has
    the jurisdiction to review final judgments rendered in such a proceeding, except
    for the entry containing the weighing exercise which leads to the imposition of the
    ‘death’ sentence.” Jackson at 4.
    {¶ 22} We agree.          A holding that the Supreme Court has exclusive
    jurisdiction over all matters relating to a death-penalty case would be contrary to
    the language of the constitutional amendments and the statute and would have the
    effect of delaying the review of future cases, a scenario that the voters expressly
    rejected in passing the constitutional amendments.3 We see no reason why the
    courts of appeals may not currently entertain all appeals from the denial of
    postjudgment motions in which the death penalty was previously imposed. We
    now hold that pursuant to Sections 2(B)(2)(c) and 3(B)(2), Article IV of the Ohio
    Constitution, a court of appeals has jurisdiction to consider a trial court’s denial of
    a motion for leave to file a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered
    evidence in a case in which the death penalty was previously imposed.
    B. The Trial Court’s Jurisdiction over the Motion for a New Trial
    {¶ 23} Having resolved the issue of the court of appeals’ jurisdiction over
    Davis’s motion for a new trial, we now turn to the issue of the trial court’s
    jurisdiction. As stated earlier, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, citing
    Special Prosecutors, 
    55 Ohio St.2d 94
    , 
    9 O.O.3d 88
    , 
    378 N.E.2d 162
    , held that
    the trial court lacked jurisdiction to act on Davis’s motion for a new trial.
    3. We do note, however, that there have been cases in which this court has treated a capital
    defendant’s appeal of the noncapital aspects of his case as an appeal as of right. See, e.g., State v.
    Elmore, 
    122 Ohio St.3d 472
    , 
    2009-Ohio-3478
    , 
    912 N.E.2d 582
    , and State v. Ketterer, 
    126 Ohio St.3d 448
    , 
    2010-Ohio-3831
    , 
    935 N.E.2d 9
    .
    8
    January Term, 2011
    {¶ 24} Crim.R. 33(B) sets forth the grounds on which the trial court may
    grant a motion for a new trial. The rule states:
    {¶ 25} “Application for a new trial shall be made by motion which, except
    for the cause of newly discovered evidence, shall be filed within fourteen days
    after the verdict was rendered, or the decision of the court where a trial by jury
    has been waived, unless it is made to appear by clear and convincing proof that
    the defendant was unavoidably prevented from filing his motion for a new trial, in
    which case the motion shall be filed within seven days from the order of the court
    finding that the defendant was unavoidably prevented from filing such motion
    within the time provided herein.
    {¶ 26} “Motions for new trial on account of newly discovered evidence
    shall be filed within one hundred twenty days after the day upon which the verdict
    was rendered, or the decision of the court where trial by jury has been waived. If
    it is made to appear by clear and convincing proof that the defendant was
    unavoidably prevented from the discovery of the evidence upon which he must
    rely, such motion shall be filed within seven days from an order of the court
    finding that he was unavoidably prevented from discovering the evidence within
    the one hundred twenty day period.”
    {¶ 27} Crim.R. 33 does not otherwise limit the time for filing a motion for
    a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. The court of appeals in this case,
    relying on Special Prosecutors, held that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to
    entertain Davis’s motion for a new trial after his conviction had been affirmed on
    appeal. 
    2009-Ohio-5175
     at ¶ 12.
    {¶ 28} In Special Prosecutors, 
    55 Ohio St.2d 94
    , 
    9 O.O.3d 88
    , 
    378 N.E.2d 162
    , the trial court granted a defendant’s motion to withdraw a guilty plea after a
    conviction and sentence based on the plea had been affirmed on appeal. After a
    trial date had been set, we granted a writ of prohibition to prevent the trial from
    proceeding.   This court stated, “[T]he trial court's granting of the motion to
    9
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    withdraw the guilty plea and the order to proceed with a new trial were
    inconsistent with the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the trial court's
    conviction premised upon the guilty plea. The judgment of the reviewing court is
    controlling upon the lower court as to all matters within the compass of the
    judgment. Accordingly, we find that the trial court lost its jurisdiction when the
    appeal was taken, and, absent a remand, it did not regain jurisdiction subsequent
    to the Court of Appeals' decision.” 
    Id. at 97
    .
    {¶ 29} We addressed a similar issue in State ex rel. Cordray v. Marshall,
    
    123 Ohio St.3d 229
    , 
    2009-Ohio-4986
    , 
    915 N.E.2d 633
    .                  In that case, the
    defendant claimed in his appeal of a conviction for murder that the trial court had
    erred by failing to instruct the jury on a lesser included offense. The court of
    appeals rejected this claim and affirmed his conviction. Id. at ¶ 3. Several years
    later, the defendant filed a motion for relief from judgment and raised the same
    claims that had been rejected in his appeal. Citing the law-of-the-case doctrine,
    we held that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to grant a posttrial motion that
    raised the same issues that had previously been rejected on appeal. Id. at ¶ 27-28,
    42.
    {¶ 30} The law-of-the-case doctrine holds that “the decision of a
    reviewing court in a case remains the law of that case on the legal questions
    involved for all subsequent proceedings in the case at both the trial and reviewing
    levels.” (Emphasis added.) Nolan v. Nolan (1984), 
    11 Ohio St.3d 1
    , 3, 11 OBR
    1, 
    462 N.E.2d 410
    . This doctrine prevents a litigant from relying on arguments at
    retrial that were fully litigated, or could have been fully litigated, in a first appeal.
    See Hubbard ex rel. Creed v. Sauline (1996), 
    74 Ohio St.3d 402
    , 404-405, 
    659 N.E.2d 781
    .
    {¶ 31} Davis argues that under this doctrine, the trial court should have
    been permitted to rule on his motion for a new trial based on newly discovered
    evidence because a reviewing court had never considered Dr. Mueller’s affidavit
    10
    January Term, 2011
    during previous appeals. Davis asserts that there would not have been a conflict
    between the trial court’s exercise of jurisdiction over the motion for a new trial
    and the appellate courts’ affirmances of his conviction and of the denial of
    postconviction relief because the issue to be decided was not “within the
    compass” of the appellate courts’ judgments. See Special Prosecutors, 55 Ohio
    St.2d at 97, 
    9 O.O.3d 88
    , 
    378 N.E.2d 162
    .
    {¶ 32} Several Ohio courts of appeals have permitted trial courts to
    consider motions for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence after
    judgments of conviction had been affirmed on appeal. See State v. Gaines, 1st
    Dist. No. C-090097, 
    2010-Ohio-895
    , ¶ 36 (the trial court abused its discretion in
    deciding defendant’s new-trial motion without an evidentiary hearing); State v.
    Rossi, 2d Dist. No. 23682, 
    2010-Ohio-4534
     (due process requires that a motion
    for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence must, at some point, be
    considered on the merits); and State v. Franklin, 7th Dist. No. 09 MA 96, 2010-
    Ohio-4317 (Special Prosecutors does not provide grounds for denying motion for
    a new trial based on newly discovered evidence).
    {¶ 33} In his motion, Davis argued that his counsel were ineffective for
    failing to present a DNA expert at trial to refute the testimony of the state’s expert
    witness. The state points out that Davis raised the same issue on direct appeal
    when he claimed that his counsel were ineffective by stipulating to evidence
    establishing the admissibility of DNA evidence. See Davis, 
    116 Ohio St.3d 404
    ,
    
    2008-Ohio-2
    , 
    880 N.E.2d 31
    , ¶ 344.
    {¶ 34} Contrary to the state’s argument, the earlier claim is not related to
    Davis’s present claim that newly discovered evidence (Mueller’s affidavit)
    warrants a new trial. Indeed, this issue could not have been raised on direct
    appeal and decided by this court, because it rests upon evidence not considered by
    the trial court—an affidavit by a qualified DNA expert. A reviewing court on
    direct appeal could not have considered an affidavit that was not part of the
    11
    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    record. State v. Ishmail (1978), 
    54 Ohio St.2d 402
    , 406, 
    8 O.O.3d 405
    , 
    377 N.E.2d 500
     (a reviewing court is limited to the record made of the proceedings in
    the trial court).
    {¶ 35} The state also claims that Special Prosecutors is only a conditional
    bar on the trial court’s jurisdiction to consider Davis’s motion for a new trial, for
    we held there that “the trial court lost its jurisdiction when the appeal was taken,
    and, absent a remand, it did not regain jurisdiction subsequent to the Court of
    Appeals’ decision.” (Emphasis added.) 55 Ohio St.2d at 97, 
    9 O.O.3d 88
    , 
    378 N.E.2d 162
    . Thus, the state argues that Davis has a remedy by filing a motion
    with this court showing that his motion for a new trial has merit and then seeking
    a remand of his case to the trial court, which would then consider the new-trial
    motion. The state maintains that this court is in the best position to determine
    what issues were addressed in its previous judgment.
    {¶ 36} The state’s suggested remedy is cumbersome. The trial court is
    better equipped than this court is to consider testimony and other evidence matters
    alleged to be newly discovered.       The trial court is also capable of deciding
    whether Dr. Mueller’s affidavit involved matters “within the compass” of this
    court’s previous decisions.
    {¶ 37} We did not decide Special Prosecutors based on the law-of-the-
    case doctrine. However, that doctrine would not prevent the trial court from
    considering the effect of previous decisions on Davis’s newly-discovered-
    evidence claim. We take this opportunity to specify that the holding in Special
    Prosecutors does not bar the trial court’s jurisdiction over posttrial motions
    permitted by the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure. These motions provide a
    safety net for defendants who have reasonable grounds to challenge their
    convictions and sentences. The trial court acts as the gatekeeper for these motions
    and, using its discretion, can limit the litigation to viable claims only. In light of
    the foregoing, we hold that a trial court retains jurisdiction to decide a motion for
    12
    January Term, 2011
    a new trial based on newly discovered evidence when the specific issue has not
    been decided upon direct appeal.
    III. Conclusion
    {¶ 38} We hold that pursuant to Sections 2(B)(2)(c) and 3(B)(2), Article
    IV of the Ohio Constitution, a court of appeals has jurisdiction in a case in which
    a death penalty has been imposed to consider the trial court’s denial of a motion
    for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.
    {¶ 39} We also hold that a trial court has jurisdiction to decide a motion
    for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence in a case in which the
    imposition of the death penalty has been affirmed on appeal.
    {¶ 40} Because the court of appeals misapplied the holding of Special
    Prosecutors in concluding that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to consider
    Davis’s motion for a new trial based on his claim of newly discovered evidence,
    we remand this case to the court of appeals to reconsider the trial court’s ruling in
    accordance with this holding.
    Judgment reversed
    and cause remanded.
    O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, CUPP,
    and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur.
    __________________
    Kenneth W. Oswalt, Licking County Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
    Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Stephen P. Hardwick and
    Randall L. Porter, Assistant Public Defenders, for appellant.
    Robert L. Tobik, Cuyahoga County Public Defender, and John T. Martin
    and Cullen Sweeney, Assistant Public Defenders, urging reversal for amici curiae
    Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Cuyahoga County Public
    Defender.
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    SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
    Davis, Polk & Wardwell, L.L.P., Sharon Katz, Sarah E. Malkerson, Sagar
    K. Ravi, and Edward Sherwin, urging reversal for amicus curiae The Innocence
    Network.
    ______________________
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