App.R. 26(B) ineffective assistance of counsel; untimeliness; good cause; courier's delay; and successive applications. The court denied an App.R. 26(B) application to reopen as untimely courier's delay or failure to file timely do not state good cause. Successive App.R. 26(B) applications are disallowed.
.]
COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO
EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA
STATE OF OHIO, :
Plaintiff-Appellee, :
No. 112981
v. :
DERRICK MAXEY, :
Defendant-Appellant. :
JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION
JUDGMENT: APPLICATION DENIED
RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: July 25, 2025
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
Case No. CR-22-668584-A
Application for Reopening
Motion No. 584767
Appearances:
Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting
Attorney, and Chauncey Keller, Assistant Prosecuting
Attorney, for appellee.
Derrick Maxey, pro se.
ANITA LASTER MAYS, J.:
On May 27, 2025, the applicant, Derrick Maxey, pursuant to App.R.
26(B) and State v. Murnahan,
(1992), applied to reopen this
court’s judgment in State v. Maxey,
2024-Ohio-1279
(8th Dist.), in which this court
affirmed his convictions for aggravated murder; felonious assault; and two counts
of murder. This application is nearly identical to the application Maxey filed on
July 8, 2024, that this court denied as untimely. The main difference between the
two is that Maxey now tries to establish good cause for his untimely filing in 2024.
He argues that he emailed his application to his sister with instructions to file it
timely. She told him that she had done so, but the application was filed five days
late.
On June 26, 2025, the State filed its brief in opposition. For the
following reasons, this court denies the application.
As the court explained in its July 26, 2024 entry, denying Maxey’s
first application, the failure of a courier to deliver an App.R. 26(B) application timely
does not state good cause for an untimely filing. State v. Winstead,
(8th Dist.); and State v. Miller, 2015-
Ohio-1535 (8th Dist.). Proffering a more detailed explanation of the courier’s failure
ten months later does not provide good cause.
Furthermore, as the Supreme Court of Ohio held, there is no right to
file successive applications for reopening. Once ineffective assistance of counsel has
been raised and adjudicated, res judicata bars its relitigation. State v. Williams,
2003-Ohio-3079
; State v. Twyford,
2005-Ohio-4380
; and State v. Slagle, 2002-
Ohio-6612.
Accordingly, this court denies the application to reopen.
__________________________
ANITA LASTER MAYS, JUDGE
EILEEN A. GALLAGHER, A.J., and
DEENA R. CALABRESE, J., CONCUR