State v. Quarterman

• Decision Date: 23 September 2014
• Docket Number: No. 2013–1591.,2013–1591.
• Citation: 2014 Ohio 4034,19 N.E.3d 900,140 Ohio St.3d 464
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. QUARTERMAN, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

140 Ohio St.3d 464

19 N.E.3d 900

2014 Ohio 4034

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee,

v.QUARTERMAN, Appellant.

No. 2013–1591.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted July 8, 2014.

Decided Sept. 23, 2014.

Sherri Bevan Walsh, Summit County Prosecuting Attorney, and Richard S. Kasay, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Amanda J. Powell, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

Michael DeWine, Attorney General, Eric E. Murphy, State Solicitor, Megan M. Dillhoff, Deputy Solicitor, and Ashon McKenzie, Assistant Attorney General, urging affirmance for Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine.

Children's Law Center, Inc., and Kim Tandy; Yeura R. Venters, Franklin County Public Defender, and David L. Strait, Assistant Public Defender; Patricia E. Rousseau; Kimberly P. Jordon; Tyack, Blackmore, Liston & Nigh Co., L.P.A., and Joseph A. Nigh, Columbus; Nancy G. Brown ; Fawn M. Gadel, Montgomery County Public Defender, and D.K. (Rudy) Wehner, Dayton; McDonald Hopkins and R. Jeffrey Pollock, Cleveland; Raymond T. Faller, Hamilton County Public Defender, and Gordon C. Magella, Assistant Public

Defender; The Law Office of Matthew C. Bangerter and Matthew C. Bangerter, Cleveland; Ohio Justice & Policy Center and Ngozi V. Ndulue; Beatrice Jessie Hill; Ohio Disability Rights Law & Policy Center, Inc., and Kristen Henry; William O'Malley, Columbus; and Faruki, Ireland & Cox, P.L.L., and Timothy Scot Ganow, urging reversal for amici curiae Children's Law Center, Inc., Franklin County Public Defender, First Baptist Church of Dayton, MLK Dayton, Inc., Justice for Children Project, Juvenile Justice Coalition, Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies, League of Women Voters of Ohio, National Center for Adoption Law & Policy, Montgomery County Public Defender, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio, Hamilton County Public Defender, Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Ohio Justice & Policy Center, Schubert Center for Child Studies, Disability Rights Ohio, Ohio PTA, and Victory Project.

Juvenile Law Center and Marsha L. Levick; National Juvenile Defender Center and Nadia N. Seeratan; Jones Day, Kimberly A. Jolson, and Rachel S. Bloomekatz, Columbus, urging reversal for amici curiae Juvenile Law Center, National Juvenile Defender Center, and Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

O'DONNELL, J.

{¶ 1} Alexander Quarterman appeals from a judgment of the Ninth District Court of Appeals affirming his conviction and four-year sentence for one count of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification. A divided panel of the appellate court concluded that Quarterman failed to preserve his claims that Ohio's mandatory bindover procedures violate his due process and equal protection rights and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

{¶ 2} The failure to challenge the constitutionality of a statute in the trial court forfeits all but plain error on appeal, and the burden of demonstrating plain error is on the party asserting it. Not only has Quarterman forfeited his constitutional challenge to Ohio's mandatory bindover procedure by failing to assert it either in the juvenile court or the general division of the common pleas court, but also he has failed to address the application of the plain-error rule to this case and has not given any basis for us to decide that the juvenile court's transfer of his case to adult court amounts to plain error in these circumstances. Because Quarterman failed to engage these dispositive questions, we decline to reach the merits of his constitutional claims.

{¶ 3} Accordingly, the judgment of the appellate court is affirmed.

Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 4} On the evening of November 17, 2011, Quarterman, his younger brother Allen, and a person identified only as George came to Kylen Davis's basement to play cards and gamble with Davis, his cousin Tyler Brophy–Davis, and Trevon Thornton. Quarterman left the house with George and returned later with an individual who introduced himself as "Yodda." After watching the game for a while, Quarterman pulled a firearm, put it to Davis's head, and said, "[G]ive me everything, on my mom, I'm going to shoot you." Davis gave Quarterman approximately $60. At the same time, Yodda struck Brophy–Davis and Thornton on the head with a firearm and took Thornton's money, two cell phones, and a book bag. Quarterman and Yodda then left the house.

{¶ 5} Akron Police arrested Quarterman four days later on November 21, 2011, and the next day, Davis, Brophy–Davis, and Thornton filed separate complaints alleging Quarterman to be a delinquent child for acts that would establish the elements of aggravated robbery if committed by an adult.

{¶ 6} At a mandatory bindover hearing, the juvenile court found probable cause to believe that Quarterman had committed the act charged. The court further found that Quarterman was 16 years old and had a firearm at the time he committed the acts constituting aggravated robbery. R.C. 2152.10(A)(2)(b). The court therefore relinquished jurisdiction and transferred the matter to the general division of the common pleas court pursuant to R.C. 2152.12(A)(1)(b)(ii). Quarterman did not object.

{¶ 7} The Summit County Grand Jury then indicted Quarterman on three counts of aggravated robbery in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1), with each count carrying a three-year firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145.

{¶ 8} In the general division of the common pleas court, Quarterman did not object to the mandatory bindover. Rather, he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery with an amended one-year firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.141, and the state agreed to dismiss the remaining charges and jointly recommend an aggregate sentence of four years in prison. The common pleas court found that Quarterman knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his constitutional rights, and it accepted his plea and imposed the jointly recommended sentence.

{¶ 9} Quarterman appealed to the Ninth District Court of Appeals, asserting, for the first time, that the mandatory bindover procedures set forth in R.C. 2152.10(A)(2)(b) and 2152.12(A)(1)(b) violate his rights to due process and equal protection and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. He also argued that defense counsel had been ineffective by failing to raise these claims in the lower courts. In a split decision, the court of appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence. The lead opinion concluded that by pleading guilty, Quarterman had waived his right to challenge either the mandatory bindover or his attorney's failure to object to it, and he had neither argued nor demonstrated that counsel's alleged ineffectiveness had caused his plea to be unknowing, unintelligent, or involuntary. State v. Quarterman, 9th Dist. Summit No. 26400, 2013-Ohio-3606, 2013 WL 4506970. Judge Belfance concurred in judgment only. Judge Carr also concurred in judgment only, stating that Quarterman had failed to preserve his constitutional claims for appeal by not raising them in the trial court and had not demonstrated any prejudice from his counsel's alleged ineffectiveness.

{¶ 10} On discretionary appeal to this court, Quarterman maintains that due process requires that a juvenile court judge have the discretion to decide whether a bindover to adult court is appropriate, regardless of the age of the child or the nature of the offense. He notes that a mandatory transfer to the general division of the common pleas court deprives a child of a liberty interest in the individualized treatment available in juvenile court. Therefore, the decision whether to transfer is a critical stage of the juvenile proceeding that serves as a "vital safeguard" and is required in all instances before the state may prosecute a child as an adult. He asserts that fundamental fairness demands that every child have an opportunity to demonstrate a capacity for rehabilitation and that mandatory bindover unconstitutionally denies him any meaningful individualized consideration by a juvenile court judge. And although youth is always a mitigating factor, the mandatory bindover provision in effect treats youth as an aggravating factor by requiring his transfer because he was 16 years old.

{¶ 11} Quarterman also asserts that mandatory bindover violates equal protection principles, because it treats some children differently from others without any empirical evidence supporting the distinction, and he claims that "no ground can be conceived to justify the distinctions drawn between older and younger children under 18." Lastly, Quarterman argues that the mandatory bindover provisions impose cruel and unusual punishment and are contrary to evolving standards of decency, urging that a national consensus among states has formed to require an individualized determination by the juvenile court before a child may be transferred to adult court, while Ohio's mandatory transfer statutes bar any such consideration of the culpability of the offender, the nature of the offense, the severity of the punishment, and the penological justifications for the sentence.

{¶ 12} The state asks the court to dismiss the appeal as improvidently allowed based on Quarterman's failure to confront the merits of the court of appeals' decision, which held that any constitutional claims had been either waived or forfeited. It notes that none of the United States Supreme Court cases Quarterman cites address whether an automatic bindover to adult court is constitutional. According to the state, the rational-basis test applies, because juveniles are not a suspect class, and there is no fundamental right to be treated as a juvenile, and it urges that there is a rational basis for treating 16 or 17 year olds who commit offenses with a firearm differently from other children—protecting the public and punishing the offender by denying the lenient treatment afforded in juvenile court. Thus, the state argues, Quarterman's due...