Case Title: State ex rel. Gordon v. Murphy

Citation: 2006-Ohio-6572

Docket Number: 20061588

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2006-12-20T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as State ex rel. Gordon v. Murphy, 112 Ohio St.3d 329, 2006-Ohio-6572.] 
 
 
 
THE STATE EX REL. GORDON, APPELLANT, v. MURPHY, JUDGE, APPELLEE. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Gordon v. Murphy, 112 Ohio St.3d 329, 2006-Ohio-6572.] 
Mandamus — Action for ruling on petition for jail-time credit is moot after a 
petitioner has been released from prison — Appeal dismissed. 
(No. 2006-1588 ─ Submitted December 13, 2006 ─ Decided  
December 20, 2006.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Summit County, No. CA-23295. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing a petition for a writ 
of mandamus to compel a judge to rule on a pending motion for jail-time credit.  
Because appellant has now been released from prison, we dismiss this appeal as 
moot. 
{¶ 2} In November 2005, the Summit County Court of Common Pleas 
convicted appellant, Charles E. Gordon, of cocaine possession, driving while 
under suspension, and a community-control violation, and the court sentenced 
him to an aggregate one-year prison term.  Appellee, Judge James E. Murphy of 
the common pleas court, then issued an entry finding that Gordon was entitled to 
42 days of jail-time credit.  In December 2005, Gordon filed a motion for jail-time 
credit in which he claimed that Judge Murphy had incorrectly calculated the 
number of days that he had spent in custody on the charges before the date of 
sentencing. 
{¶ 3} On July 3, 2006, Gordon filed a complaint in the Court of Appeals 
for Summit County for a writ of mandamus to compel Judge Murphy to rule on 
his motion for jail-time credit.  Gordon claimed that with the additional jail-time 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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credit to which he was entitled, “he would have been released on or about June 
25, 2006, having fully served his one-year prison term.” Judge Murphy filed a 
motion to dismiss, and the court of appeals dismissed the petition. 
{¶ 4} In his appeal as of right, Gordon asserts that the court of appeals 
erred in dismissing his petition.  Judge Murphy has filed a motion to dismiss this 
appeal because it is moot. 
{¶ 5} Gordon’s mandamus claim lacked merit because the true objective 
of his claim was to compel Judge Murphy to credit him for jail-time served and to 
immediately release him from prison before his scheduled September 2006 
release date.  “Habeas corpus, rather than mandamus, is the proper action to seek” 
release from prison.  State ex rel. Rowe v. McCown, 108 Ohio St.3d 183, 2006-
Ohio-548, 842 N.E.2d 51, ¶ 4. 
{¶ 6} More important, Gordon has been released.  Therefore, his “appeal 
is moot because his sentence has now expired and he has been released from 
prison.”  Crase v. Bradshaw, 108 Ohio St.3d 212, 2006-Ohio-663, 842 N.E.2d 
513, ¶ 5.  Furthermore, this claim is not “capable of repetition, yet evading 
review.”  Spencer v. Kemna (1998), 523 U.S. 1, 17, 118 S.Ct. 978, 140 L.Ed.2d 
43; Larsen v. State (2001), 92 Ohio St.3d 69, 70, 748 N.E.2d 72.  Gordon 
concedes that there is no reasonable expectation that he will be subject to the 
same action again. 
{¶ 7} Based on the foregoing, we grant Judge Murphy’s motion and 
dismiss this appeal as moot. 
Appeal dismissed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., RESNICK, PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’CONNOR, 
O’DONNELL and LANZINGER, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
J. Alex Morton, for appellant. 
January Term, 2006 
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Sherri Bevan Walsh, Summit County Prosecuting Attorney, and Richard 
S. Kasay, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. 
______________________