State v. Williams

[Cite as State v. Williams, 2022-Ohio-2022.]
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
STATE OF OHIO, : APPEAL NO. C-210384
TRIAL NO. B-2005339
Plaintiff-Appellee, :
vs. :
O P I N I O N.
TIMOTHY WILLIAMS, :
Defendant-Appellant. :
Criminal Appeal From: Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas
Judgment Appealed From Is: Vacated and Case Remanded
Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: June 15, 2022
Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Alex Scott Havlin,
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellee,
Office of the Ohio Public Defender, and Abigail Christopher and Lauren Hammersmith,
Assistant State Public Defenders, for Defendant-Appellant.
OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
BOCK, Judge.
{¶1} In this appeal, appellant-defendant Timothy Williams maintains that
the trial court lacked jurisdiction to convict him for tampering with evidence in
violation of R.C. 2921.12(A)(1). For the following reasons, we vacate his conviction for
that count and remand the matter to the trial court to enter an order consistent with
this opinion.
I. Facts and Procedure
{¶2} Williams was arrested and charged as a delinquent child with conduct
that, if he were an adult, would have constituted murder in violation of R.C.
2903.02(A), murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(B), and felonious assault in violation
of R.C. 2903.11, all with two firearm specifications under R.C. 2941.141 and 2941.145.
At the time of the alleged conduct, he was 16 years old.
{¶3} The juvenile court held a mandatory bindover hearing under R.C.
2152.10(A)(1). At the hearing, the state presented testimony that Williams may have
sold the firearm used in the offenses. The juvenile court determined that probable
cause existed to support the murder and felonious-assault charges, and the firearm
specifications. The juvenile court relinquished its jurisdiction and transferred the case
to the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.
{¶4} In the common pleas court, the state indicted Williams for 1.) murder in
violation of R.C. 2903.02(A) with a firearm specification, 2.) murder in violation of
R.C. 2903.02(B) with a firearm specification, 3.) felonious assault in violation of R.C.
2903.11(A)(1) with a firearm specification, and 4.) tampering with evidence in
violation of R.C. 2921.12(A)(1).
{¶5} Pursuant to a plea agreement, Williams pleaded guilty to count one,
reduced to involuntary manslaughter, and count four, tampering with evidence.
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OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
Relevant here, the trial court imposed a three-year sentence for the tampering-with-
evidence charge consecutive to his sentence for count one.
{¶6} Williams appeals his conviction for tampering with evidence.
II. Law and Analysis
{¶7} Williams challenges his conviction for tampering with evidence in two
assignments of error. In his first assignment of error, he contends that the trial court
lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to convict him for tampering with evidence in
violation of R.C. 2921.12(A)(1). He argues that the juvenile court never transferred
jurisdiction of that charge and relies on the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent opinion in
State v. Smith, Slip Opinion No. 2022-Ohio-274.
{¶8} Under R.C. 2151.23, juvenile courts have “exclusive jurisdiction over
children alleged to be delinquent for committing acts that would constitute a crime if
committed by an adult.” In re M.P., 124 Ohio St.3d 445, 2010-Ohio-599, 923 N.E.2d
584, ¶ 11. When “a child is arrested under any charge, complaint, affidavit, or
indictment for a felony or misdemeanor, proceedings regarding the child initially shall
be in the juvenile court.” R.C. 2152.03.
{¶9} But in some circumstances, a child’s case “may be transferred to adult
court for criminal prosecution by way of R.C. 2152.12.” Smith at ¶ 22. Transferring a
case “occur[s] through a statutory process ‘generally referred to as a bindover
procedure.’ ” Steele v. Harris, 161 Ohio St.3d 407, 2020-Ohio-5480, 163 N.E.3d 565,
¶ 10, quoting State v. Wilson, 73 Ohio St.3d 40, 43, 652 N.E.2d 196 (1995).
{¶10} Transferring the case “abates the jurisdiction of the juvenile court with
respect to the delinquent acts alleged in the complaint.” R.C. 2152.12(I). In other
words, the juvenile court relinquishes its jurisdiction—“all further proceedings
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OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
pertaining to the act charged shall be discontinued in the juvenile court, and the case
then shall be within the jurisdiction of the court to which it is transferred.” Id.{¶11} But “[a]bsent a proper bindover procedure * * * the juvenile court has
the exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over any case concerning a child who is
alleged to be delinquent.” Smith at ¶ 41, quoting Wilson at paragraph one of the
syllabus. Indeed, “[n]o person, either before or after reaching eighteen years of age,
shall be prosecuted as an adult for an offense committed prior to becoming eighteen
years of age, unless” transferred under R.C. 2152.12(A) or (B). R.C. 2152.12(H).
{¶12} The bindover statute establishes different procedures for mandatory
transfers in R.C. 2152.12(A), and discretionary transfers in R.C. 2152.12(B). But in all
transfers, the juvenile court must first hold a bindover hearing and find “probable
cause to believe that the child committed the act charged.” See R.C. 2152.12(A)(1)(a)
and 2152.12(B)(2). The “first and most critical determination[] a juvenile court must
make * * * is whether probable cause exists to believe that the child committed the act
charged.” (Emphasis in original.) Smith at ¶ 27.
{¶13} In State v. Smith, the Ohio Supreme Court clarified that a “probable
cause [finding] is a jurisdictional prerequisite under R.C. 2151.12 to transferring a
child to adult court for prosecution of an act charged.” Id. at ¶ 44. Absent a probable
cause finding by the juvenile court, an adult court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to
convict a child. Id. at ¶ 42. A transfer “confers jurisdiction to adjudicate only the acts
charged for which probable cause has been found by the juvenile court.” Id. at ¶ 26.
Therefore, the scope of an adult court’s jurisdiction is “limited to the acts that the
juvenile court found were supported by probable cause.” Id. When a juvenile court
makes a probable-cause finding and subsequently transfers jurisdiction to the adult
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OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
court, the transfer “does not open the door to prosecution in adult court for any charge
the state might later seek in an indictment.” Id. at ¶ 2.
{¶14} In Smith, a complaint filed in the juvenile court charged the allegedly
delinquent child with acts that, if he were an adult, would have constituted eight
felonies. Id. at ¶ 3. The juvenile court held a bindover hearing and found probable
cause existed for two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of grand theft. Id. at
¶ 9. While these counts included firearm specifications in the complaint, the juvenile
court found no probable cause to believe that the acts were committed with a firearm.
Id. Still more, the court found no probable cause for the theft, failure-to-comply, and
possessing-a-weapon-while-under-a-disability counts. Id. at ¶ 10.
{¶15} In the adult court, the state charged Smith with nine felonies, including
the charges for which the juvenile court had found no probable cause. Id. at ¶ 12. Smith
pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with a firearm specification, grand theft, failure
to comply, and escape. Id. at ¶ 13. The Ohio Supreme Court held that the adult court
lacked jurisdiction over the counts and specifications that the juvenile court found
were not supported by probable cause. Id. at ¶ 42.
{¶16} Turning to the facts of this case, the juvenile court properly transferred
the two counts of murder and one count of assault, all with firearm specifications, to
the adult court. But this transfer did not open the door for additional charges in the
adult court. See Smith, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-244 at ¶ 2. Williams maintains
that, because the juvenile court made no probable-cause finding for the count of
tampering with evidence, the adult court lacked jurisdiction to convict him of that
count. In light of Smith, the state conceded this point at oral argument. We agree. The
state never charged Williams in the juvenile court with acts that would have
constituted tampering with evidence in violation of R.C. 2921.12(A)(1). In turn, the
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OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
juvenile court neither considered, nor determined, whether probable cause existed to
believe that Williams committed that act as required by R.C. 2152.12. Without this
finding, the juvenile court retained exclusive jurisdiction over that act. And without a
transfer, the adult court lacked jurisdiction to convict him for that act.
{¶17} Therefore, we sustain Williams’s first assignment of error. Because of
the jurisdictional defect in the bindover process, the trial court lacked subject-matter
jurisdiction over the count of tampering with evidence. Without subject-matter
jurisdiction, the judgment is void. In re D.J., 1st Dist. Hamilton Nos. C-170615 and C-
170616, 2019-Ohio-288, ¶ 46, citing State v. Payne, 114 Ohio St.3d 502, 2007-Ohio-
4642, 873 N.E.2d 306, ¶ 27.
{¶18} In his second assignment of error, Williams maintains that he received
ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights.
Specifically, he maintains that his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the
indictment and conviction for tampering with evidence. But our disposition of the first
assignment of error renders this assignment of error moot and we decline to address
it. State v. Harris, 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-210391, 2022-Ohio-1021, ¶ 1, citing App.R.
12(A)(1)(c).
III. Conclusion
{¶19} Absent a determination by the juvenile court that probable cause exists
to believe that a child committed an act, the adult court lacks subject-matter
jurisdiction over that act. In this case, the adult court lacked subject-matter
jurisdiction over the tampering-with-evidence count because the juvenile court never
determined whether probable cause existed for that count. Williams’s conviction and
sentence for tampering with evidence is vacated and the matter is remanded to the
trial court to enter an order consistent with this opinion.
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OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
Judgment accordingly.
ZAYAS, P.J., and BERGERON, J., concur.
Please note:
The court has recorded its entry on the date of the release of this opinion.
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