Latest 2 Cases: State ex rel. Newell v. Ohio Adult Parole Authority (Criminal Law), State v. Horn (Criminal Law)

Can the Republicans Cancel the Elections, Even Though Trump Can’t?

NEIL H. BUCHANAN

UF Levin College of Law professor and economist Neil H. Buchanan considers whether (and how) President Trump or his supporters in Congress could cancel the 2020 elections, citing public safety as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Buchanan points out that because states control the procedures for the election, Trump would need Republican governors of certain blue states to shut down their state’s elections—something Buchanan stops short of saying is likely or unlikely.

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The Lessons the Coronavirus Crisis Can Teach Us About the Religious Liberty that Serves the Public Good (aka the Framers’ Religious Liberty)

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Marci A. Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the country’s leading church-state scholars, describes some of the lessons the novel coronavirus pandemic can teach us about religious liberty. Hamilton points out that COVID-19 is nondenominational and nonpartisan, yet we are already seeing some groups claim to be exempt from the public-health prohibitions on large gatherings, on the basis of their religious beliefs.

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State ex rel. Newell v. Ohio Adult Parole Authority

Citation: 2020-Ohio-967

Opinion Date: March 18, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals dismissing Appellant's complaint for a writ of mandamus against the Ohio Adult Parole Authority and its chairman (collectively, the APA), holding that the court of appeals correctly held that Appellant failed to preserve his claim alleging that the trial court failed to order that his sentence be served in a prison institution. Appellant filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus alleging that the APA incorrectly calculated his aggregate prison sentence. The court of appeals concluded that the APA correctly calculated Appellant's aggregate maximum term and rejected Appellant's contention that that APA had no authority to include the maximum term in its aggregate-sentence calculation because the sentencing entry did not specify that Appellant had to serve the sentence in a prison institution. The Supreme Court affirmed, Appellant failed to preserve his only claim on appeal.

State v. Horn

Citation: 2020-Ohio-960

Opinion Date: March 18, 2020

Judge: Donnelly

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court reversed in part the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of four counts of rape of S.M., his step-daughter, and two counts of rape of J.M., his niece by marriage and six sexually-violent predator specifications, holding that a familial relationship is not a "mental or physical condition" for purposes of Ohio Rev. Code 2907.02(A)(1)(c). On appeal, Defendant argued that the State had not established that his victim's "ability to resist or consent [was] substantially impaired because of a mental or physical condition," Ohio Rev. Code 2907.02(A)(1)(c). The Supreme Court concluded that a familial relationship is not a mental or physical condition, and therefore, it was impossible for the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant violated section 2907.02(A)(1)(c) based on the theory that a familial relationship was the condition that caused the victims' substantial impairment.