APPELLATE REVIEW - App.R. 5(A) delayed appeal reason does not justify over six and one-half year delay in filing appeal.
Decided 2020-09-28
[Cite as State v. Mann,
2020-Ohio-4644
.]
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
TRUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO
STATE OF OHIO, : MEMORANDUM OPINION
Plaintiff-Appellee, :
CASE NO. 2020-T-0045
- vs - :
LOUIS R. MANN, :
Defendant-Appellant. :
Criminal Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2011 CR 00605.
Judgment: Appeal dismissed.
Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County Prosecutor, and Ashleigh Musick, Assistant
Prosecutor, Administration Building, Fourth Floor, 160 High Street, N.W., Warren, OH
44481-1092 (For Plaintiff-Appellee).
Louis R. Mann, pro se, PID: A651-050, Lorain Correctional Institution, 2075 South
Avon Belden Road, Grafton, OH 44044 (Defendant-Appellant).
THOMAS R. WRIGHT, J.
{¶1} Appellant, Louis R. Mann, pro se, filed a motion for leave to file a delayed
appeal, pursuant to App.R. 5(A), and a notice of appeal, on August 5, 2020, from a
December 11, 2013 sentencing entry of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas.
{¶2} A jury found appellant guilty of counts one and two, aggravated murder
with specifications of aggravating circumstances, and count three, aggravated robbery
with a firearm specification. Count three was merged for sentencing with counts one
and two, and appellant was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole.
{¶3} A timely notice of appeal from the December 11, 2013 judgment was due
no later than January 10, 2014, which was not a holiday or a weekend. Thus, this
appeal is untimely filed by nearly six years and nine months.
{¶4} Appellee, the state of Ohio, filed a response in opposition to appellant’s
motion for delayed appeal.
{¶5} App.R. 5(A)(1) provides:
{¶6} “After the expiration of the thirty day period provided by App.R. 4(A) for the
filing of a notice of appeal as of right, an appeal may be taken by a defendant with leave
of the court to which the appeal is taken in the following classes of cases:
{¶7} “(a) Criminal proceedings …”
{¶8} App.R. 4(A)(1) states:
{¶9} “… a party who wishes to appeal from an order that is final upon its entry
shall file the notice of appeal required by App.R. 3 with 30 days of that entry.”
{¶10} As reasons for failing to file a timely appeal, appellant asserts that the trial
court and his trial counsel failed to inform him of his right to appeal and have counsel
appointed to represent him to file an appeal. He claims that he was just made aware of
these rights on July 28, 2020, after speaking to an inmate law clerk.
{¶11} Appellee argues that the record belies appellant’s claim where the
sentencing entry states at ¶ 7 and 8:
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{¶12} “The Court further advised the Defendant of his right to appeal pursuant to
Criminal Rule 32(B) and his right to have appellant [sic] counsel appointed pursuant to
Criminal Rule 44.
{¶13} “The Defendant, as well as counsel for the Defendant, on the record and
in open court, advised the Court that the Defendant wished to waive his right to appeal.
The Court then addressed counsel for the Defendant and further personally addressed
and inquired of the Defendant, on the record and in open court, of the consequences of
waiving those rights, and hereby finds that the Defendant has knowingly, intelligently,
and voluntarily waived his right to appeal and to have counsel appointed for appellate
purposes.”
{¶14} Upon consideration of the foregoing, we find that appellant’s reasons do
not justify an over six and one-half year delay in filing his appeal as of right. Therefore,
appellant’s pro se motion for leave to file a delayed appeal is hereby overruled.
{¶15} Appeal dismissed.
TIMOTHY P. CANNON, P.J.,
MATT LYNCH, J.,
concur.
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