Amendments to Ohio Supreme Court's Rules of Appellate/Criminal Procedure

The Ohio Supreme Court announced last Friday that it had submitted proposed amendments to its Rules of Practice & Procedures with the General Assembly which include changes to the criminal discovery process calling for more "open discovery" (Crim.R. 16) and several appellate rules of procedure to implement a procedure for en banc considerations in courts of appeals when separate three-judge panels within the same court of appeals reach conflicting decisions on the same matter of law (App.R. 14, 15, 25 and 26)

The Court's announcement says, "The new discovery process would allow defense counsel access to materials that, under the current rule, were never disclosed. Changes in Crim. R. 16 also call for establishing a defendant's reciprocal duty of disclosure and seeks to protect victims and witnesses from potential harassment. Revisions to the proposed amendments, published in October 2009, also include language giving a court greater discretion in regulating discovery in cases of a pro se defendant, additional language to give sufficient time for an expert to evaluate statements of a sexual abuse victim who is less than 13 years of age, and several clarifying changes.

"Other changes to the criminal procedure rules include amending Crim. R. 12(K) to accommodate the new interlocutory appeal granted under proposed Crim. R. 16(F)(2) to review a trial court's ruling on a prosecutor's non-disclosure of material. Amendments to Crim. R. 41 permit applications and approvals of search warrants to be accomplished by electronic means, including facsimile transmission."

The en banc provisions of the appellate procedure rules result from the Supreme Court's decision in McFadden v. Cleveland State University, two years ago, where the it held that "if the judges of a court of appeals determine that two or more decisions of the court on which they sit are in conflict, they must convene en banc to resolve the conflict."

If the General Assembly doesn't make changes or disapprove the amendments, they will take effect July 1, 2010.

Text of Amendments