State v. Rogers

Summary

The Sixth District Court of Appeals of Ohio held that the trial court failed to make all determinations required by Ohio Revised Code 2953.33(B)(2) when denying Christopher Rogers’s motion to seal the record of a dismissed aggravated-theft charge. The court reversed and remanded for the required analysis, while holding that Everi had a constitutional right under Marsy’s Law to appear and be heard on the motion despite the absence of a conviction. Judge Osowik concurred in the remand but dissented from the majority’s resolution of the victim-rights issue.

Holdings

1. A trial court must make each determination required by R.C. 2953.33(B)(2) on the record or in its judgment entry. The trial court erred because it did not determine whether criminal proceedings were pending against Rogers and did not otherwise make all required statutory findings.
2. A victim's constitutional right under Ohio Constitution Article I, Section 10a, to appear and be heard in a public proceeding in which a victim's right is implicated is not contingent on the defendant's conviction. Everi therefore had the right to be heard on Rogers's motion to seal.
3. The appellate court could review the standing issue because a motion not expressly decided when the case concludes is ordinarily presumed overruled, particularly where the trial court relied on Everi's objections in denying the sealing motion.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court erred by denying Rogers's motion to seal without making all determinations required by R.C. 2953.33(B)(2).
2. Whether Everi had a constitutional right under Ohio Constitution Article I, Section 10a, to appear and be heard on Rogers's motion to seal despite the dismissal of the charge and the absence of a conviction.
3. Whether the trial court's failure to expressly rule on Rogers's motion challenging Everi's standing precluded appellate review.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded