Ohio Supreme Court holds sex offender classification appeals are criminal matters

The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday morning held that an appeal of a sexual-offender classification under RC Chapter 2950 was an appeal of a criminal matter that must be filed within 30 days after judgment in the case is entered, not a civil matter for which the 30-day deadline is tolled until the defendant has been served with a copy of the judgment entry. ( See State v. Clayborn, 2010-Ohio-2123 )

Appellant had argued that the sexual-offender classifications were intended to be administrative, not punitive, and are therefore civil determinations.

The Court, however, pointed to three decisions in cases since 1998, in its summary, that dealt with various forms of the sex offender classification statute. "Our holdings inState v. Cook, State v. Wilson, and State v. Ferguson," it said, "do not turn the sex offender classification proceedings in the underlying criminal case, which has a criminal case number, into a civil case… While sex-offender-classification proceedings are civil in nature and require a civil manifest-weight-of-the-evidence standard, we hold that an appeal from a sexual offender classification is a civil matter within the context of a criminal case. Therefore, although the court reviews the classification matter on civil standards, the appeal requirements applicable to criminal cases, nonetheless apply."


Franklin County Court of Appeals decision