Case Title: State v. Kinney

Citation: 2020-Ohio-6822

Docket Number: 2019-1103

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2020-12-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State 
v. Kinney, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-6822.] 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an 
advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested to 
promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65 
South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other 
formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before 
the opinion is published. 
 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2020-OHIO-6822 
THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. KINNEY, APPELLANT. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State v. Kinney, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-6822.] 
Judgment reversed on the authority of State v. Patrick and cause remanded for 
further proceedings. 
(No. 2019-1103―Submitted July 7, 2020―Decided December 22, 2020.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Belmont County, 
No. 18 BE 11, 2019-Ohio-2704. 
_________________ 
{¶ 1} The judgment of the Seventh District Court of Appeals is reversed, 
and the cause is remanded to that court for further proceedings consistent with our 
opinion in State v. Patrick, ___ Ohio St.3d ___, 2020-Ohio-6803, ___N.E.3d ____. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and FRENCH, DONNELLY, and STEWART, JJ., concur. 
KENNEDY, J., dissents and would dismiss the appeal as having been 
improvidently accepted. 
FISCHER, J., dissents, with an opinion joined by DEWINE, J. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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_________________ 
FISCHER, J., dissenting. 
{¶ 2} Today, in State v. Patrick, ___ Ohio St.3d ___, 2020-Ohio-6803, 
___N.E.3d ____, ¶ 17, this court holds that R.C. 2953.08(D)(3) does not preclude 
other potential avenues of appellate review, including constitutional challenges.  In 
this case, we are asked a different question about that same statute: is R.C. 
2953.08(D)(3) unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment to the United States 
Constitution and Article I, Section 9 of the Ohio Constitution? 
{¶ 3} The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides 
that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel 
and unusual punishments inflicted.”  The Ohio Constitution contains similar 
language prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.  Article 1, Section 9, Ohio 
Constitution (“Excessive bail shall not be required; nor excessive fines imposed; 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”). 
{¶ 4} As the text of each Constitution makes clear, the focus of these 
provisions is punishment, not procedure.  Specifically, these provisions prevent the 
government from employing “cruel” and “unusual” methods when punishing an 
offender.  See Bucklew v. Precythe, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 139 S.Ct. 1112, 1122-1124, 
203 L.Ed.2d 521 (2019); Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 979, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 
115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991); Holt v. State, 107 Ohio St. 307, 314, 140 N.E. 349 (1923), 
citing Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U.S. 130, 135-136, 25 L.Ed. 345 (1878). 
{¶ 5} Notably, when it is warranted, the United States Supreme Court has 
approved of imposing the penalty that was imposed in this case: life imprisonment 
without the possibility of parole for an adult offender.  See Harmelin. 
{¶ 6} Against this backdrop, what Kinney basically argues here is that R.C. 
2953.08(D)(3) is unconstitutionally cruel because it is procedurally unusual.  But, 
no matter how anomalous R.C. 2953.08(D)(3) is, see brief of amici curiae Ohio 
Public Defender and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 3-4, fn. 3 
January Term, 2020 
 
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(cataloging the procedures in other states), that fact alone does not render this 
specific provision unconstitutional under either the Eighth Amendment to the 
United States Constitution or Article I, Section 9 of the Ohio Constitution. 
{¶ 7} To be sure, the United States Supreme Court has held that the Eighth 
Amendment requires additional procedures prior to imposing certain forms of 
punishment, e.g., the death penalty, Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 
S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976), or life sentences for juvenile offenders, Miller 
v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d. 407 (2012); however,  in 
this context, in which the punishment is life imprisonment without the possibility 
of parole for an adult offender,  those additional procedures, like appellate review, 
are not required.  Harmelin at 994-996; see also Woodson at 305 (“the penalty of 
death is qualitatively different from a sentence of imprisonment”). 
{¶ 8} In fact, I am comfortable saying that neither the Eighth Amendment 
nor Article 1, Section 9 of the Ohio Constitution requires appellate review in this 
context, because there is generally no constitutional right to appeal a criminal 
sentence.  Ross v. Moffit, 417 U.S. 600, 611, 94 S.Ct. 2437, 41 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974) 
(“it is clear that the State need not provide any appeal at all”); State v. Smith, 80 
Ohio St.3d 89, 97-98, 684 N.E.2d 668 (1997).  Instead, it is up to each state to 
decide when such an appeal is available by either rule or statute.  McKane v. 
Durston, 153 U.S. 684, 688, 14 S.Ct. 913, 38 L.Ed. 867 (1894) (“whether an appeal 
should be allowed, and, if so, under what circumstances, or on what conditions, are 
matters for each state to determine for itself”). 
{¶ 9} Precluding individuals from appealing a sentence for murder or 
aggravated murder is thus not a question of punishment (cruel, unusual, or 
otherwise), but rather a question of policy.  As such, the General Assembly is in the 
best position to address the wisdom of this particular law and its underlying policy.  
Arbino v. Johnson & Johnson, 116 Ohio St.3d 468, 2007-Ohio-6948, 880 N.E.2d 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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420, ¶ 113 (“the General Assembly is responsible for * * * making policy 
decisions”). 
{¶ 10} Accordingly, I would hold that R.C. 2953.08(D)(3) is not a form of 
cruel and unusual punishment under either the Eighth Amendment to the United 
States Constitution or Article 1, Section 9 of the Ohio Constitution, and I would 
affirm the judgment of the Seventh District Court of Appeals. 
{¶ 11} Because the court does otherwise through its entry, I respectfully 
dissent. 
DEWINE, J., concurs in the foregoing opinion. 
_________________ 
 
David A. Yost, Attorney General, Benjamin M. Flowers, Solicitor General, 
Michael J. Hendershot, Chief Deputy Solicitor General, and Diane R. Brey, Deputy 
Solicitor General; and Daniel P. Fry, Belmont County Prosecuting Attorney, and J. 
Kevin Flanagan, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. 
Gagin Legal Services, L.L.C., and Christopher J. Gagin, for appellant. 
 
Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Peter Galyardt, Assistant 
Public Defender, urging reversal for amicus curiae Ohio Public Defender. 
 
Pinales, Stachler, Young & Burrell Co., L.P.A., and Stephanie F. Kessler; 
and Kristina Supler, urging reversal for amicus curiae National Association of 
Criminal Defense Lawyers. 
_________________