In re M.P.

Decision Date25 February 2010
Docket NumberNo. 2008-1562.,2008-1562.
Citation2010 Ohio 599,923 N.E.2d 584,124 Ohio St.3d 445
PartiesIn re M.P.
CourtOhio Supreme Court
923 N.E.2d 584
124 Ohio St.3d 445
2010-Ohio-599
In re M.P.
No. 2008-1562.
Supreme Court of Ohio.
Submitted October 21, 2009.
Decided February 25, 2010.

[923 N.E.2d 585]

Bradford W. Bailey, Hardin County Prosecuting Attorney, and Collen P. Limerick, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellant, state of Ohio.

Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Elizabeth R. Miller, Assistant Public Defender, for appellee, M.P.

Ron O'Brien, Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney, and Barbara A. Farnbacher and Laura R. Swisher, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, urging reversal on behalf of amicus curiae, Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

CUPP, J.


124 Ohio St.3d 445

{¶ 1} This case presents the question whether the judgment of a juvenile court that denies a motion for discretionary bindover of a child to the general division of the common pleas court for prosecution as an adult because the court finds that the child is amenable to care or rehabilitation within the juvenile system is a final order from which the state may appeal as a matter of right. We conclude that it is not and therefore affirm the court of appeals' judgment.

{¶ 2} This case arises from a delinquency complaint filed in the juvenile court alleging that a 15-year-old child murdered her mother. The state filed with the juvenile court a motion for a discretionary bindover to transfer jurisdiction of the case to the common pleas court to prosecute the child as an adult.

{¶ 3} After holding a preliminary hearing on the state's motion, the juvenile court found that there was probable cause to believe that the child had committed the act charged. Thereafter, a full investigation took place, and the court found after an amenability hearing that the child was amenable to care and rehabilitation in the juvenile system. The court denied the state's discretionary-bindover motion.

{¶ 4} The state sought leave to appeal the juvenile court's denial of its discretionary-bindover request pursuant to App.R. 5(C). The appellate court

124 Ohio St.3d 446

denied the state's request for leave to appeal. In re M.P. (June 25, 2009), Hardin App. No. 6-08-09.

{¶ 5} The state appealed to this court, and we accepted review under our discretionary jurisdiction.1 120 Ohio St.3d 1452, 2008-Ohio-6813, 898 N.E.2d 967.

{¶ 6} After the state filed its jurisdictional request in this case, but before we accepted jurisdiction, we decided In re A.J.S., 120 Ohio St.3d 185, 2008-Ohio-5307, 897 N.E.2d 629. In A.J.S., we held at the syllabus:

{¶ 7} "The order of a juvenile court denying a motion for mandatory bindover bars the state from prosecuting a juvenile offender as an adult for a criminal offense. It is therefore the functional equivalent of a dismissal of a criminal indictment and constitutes a final order from which the state may appeal as a matter of right."

{¶ 8} In reaching this conclusion, we relied on the statute that specifically governs appeals by the state in criminal and juvenile delinquency proceedings. Id. at

923 N.E.2d 586

¶ 30, 33. This statutory provision is R.C. 2945.67(A), which provides:

{¶ 9} "A prosecuting attorney * * * may appeal as a matter of right * * * any decision of a juvenile court in a delinquency case, which decision grants a motion to dismiss all or any part of an indictment, * * * and may appeal by leave of the court to which the appeal is taken any other decision, except the final verdict, * * * of the juvenile court in a delinquency case."

{¶ 10} The state urges this court to apply the rationale used in A.J.S. to allow appeals as a matter of right by the state from juvenile court decisions in which discretionary-bindover requests are denied because the court concludes that the child is amenable to care and rehabilitation in the juvenile system, even though the court also finds probable cause to believe that the child committed the act charged. Because of the important difference between mandatory-bindover and discretionary-bindover proceedings, we decline the state's invitation.

{¶ 11}...

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    ...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, citing R.C. 2151.23(A) ; Mays at ¶ 17. {¶ 20} Under certain circumstances, however, the juvenile court ma......
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