State v. Williams

Summary

The Ninth District Court of Appeals dismissed the State of Ohio’s attempted appeal from a trial court order declining to compel a witness to testify under R.C. 2945.44. The court held that the ruling was not appealable as of right because the State had proposed incomplete immunity and denied the State’s alternative motion for leave to appeal. A dissent would have granted leave and remanded for further proceedings concerning the adequacy of the trial court’s inquiry into the witness’s Fifth Amendment invocation.

Holdings

1. The State did not have an appeal as of right because the trial court's ruling was not an appealable evidentiary ruling of the type covered by R.C. 2945.67(A) and Crim.R. 12(K), particularly where the State attempted to invoke R.C. 2945.44 through an incomplete immunity offer.
2. The State's motion for leave to appeal was denied because, after considering the motion and the entire record, the court could not conclude that the State had established the probability that the claimed trial-court errors occurred.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the State had an appeal as of right under R.C. 2945.67(A) and Crim.R. 12(K) from the trial court's refusal to compel a witness's testimony under R.C. 2945.44.
2. Whether the State should receive leave to appeal under R.C. 2945.67(A) and App.R. 5(C).
3. Whether an offer of incomplete immunity permits the State to invoke the compulsory-testimony procedure in R.C. 2945.44.

Disposition

dismissed