Case Title: Lopez v. Warden

Citation: 2018-Ohio-4061

Docket Number: 2017-1805

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2018-10-09T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
Lopez v. Warden, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-4061.] 
 
 
 
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. 2018-OHIO-4061 
LOPEZ, APPELLANT, v. WARDEN, MADISON CORR. INST., APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as Lopez v. Warden, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-4061.] 
Habeas Corpus—Successive habeas petition arguing issue already litigated barred 
by res judicata—Court of appeals’ dismissal of petition affirmed. 
(No. 2017-1805—Submitted May 22, 2018—Decided October 9, 2018.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Madison County, No. CA 20170017. 
________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} We affirm the judgment of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals 
dismissing the petition of appellant, Juan Ramone Lopez, for a writ of habeas 
corpus. 
{¶ 2} In October 1998, Lopez was arrested on suspicion of murder.  At that 
time, Lopez identified himself as “Eduardo Bonilla.”  He was subsequently indicted 
under the name “Eduardo Bonilla aka Juan Ramone Lopez” and convicted of seven 
charges—including complicity to commit aggravated murder, conspiracy to 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
 
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commit aggravated murder, complicity to commit murder, and complicity to 
commit kidnapping.  The Greene County Common Pleas Court sentenced Lopez to 
an aggregate prison term of life with the possibility of parole after 30 years.  The 
court of appeals affirmed Lopez’s conviction and sentence.  State v. Bonilla, 2d 
Dist. Greene No. 99CA0118, 2001 WL 236762 (Mar. 2, 2001), jurisdiction 
declined, 93 Ohio St.3d 1446, 756 N.E.2d 111 (2001). 
{¶ 3} In September 2017, Lopez filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus 
in the Twelfth District Court of Appeals, arguing that the trial court lacked 
jurisdiction to convict him because the juvenile court had not conducted a bindover 
proceeding as required by R.C. 2152.12 and Juv.R. 30.  Lopez claims that his name 
was not Eduardo Bonilla in 1998.  Lopez insists that he adopted the identity of 
Eduardo Bonilla—who was an adult in 1998—only to purchase cigarettes and beer.  
According to Lopez, he was actually a juvenile on the date of the crimes.  
Consequently, Lopez argues that the protections afforded to juveniles in R.C. 
2152.12 and Juv.R. 30 applied to him.  Appellee, the warden of the Madison 
Correctional Institution, filed a motion to dismiss asserting that Lopez failed to state 
a claim upon which relief could be granted under Civ.R. 12(B)(6).  Lopez opposed 
the motion. 
{¶ 4} In November 2017, the court of appeals dismissed Lopez’s petition, 
holding that he had an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law through 
which he could raise his bindover claim and that his habeas claim was barred by 
res judicata. 
{¶ 5} We affirm the court of appeals’ judgment only as it pertains to 
dismissing Lopez’s petition on res judicata grounds.  When petitioners have 
appealed adverse judgments in successive habeas corpus cases, we have applied res 
judicata to bar those claims.  State ex rel. Childs v. Lazaroff, 90 Ohio St.3d 519, 
520, 739 N.E.2d 802 (2001). 
January Term, 2018 
 
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{¶ 6} In 2009, Lopez raised this very claim in an original action for a writ 
of habeas corpus in this court.  Lopez v. Sheets, 124 Ohio St.3d 1439, 2010-Ohio-
188, 920 N.E.2d 370.  Under these circumstances, we may take judicial notice of 
our own docket.  See State ex rel. Neff v. Corrigan, 75 Ohio St.3d 12, 16, 661 
N.E.2d 170 (1996).  Moreover, Lopez had fully litigated this claim in a 
postconviction petition and lost.  State v. Bonilla, 2d Dist. Greene No. 2011 CA 46, 
2014-Ohio-623 (affirming the trial court’s judgment that Lopez was an adult at the 
time that the crimes were committed).  “Res judicata precludes a petitioner from 
using habeas corpus to gain successive appellate review of previously litigated 
issues.”  State ex rel. Gibson v. Sloan, 147 Ohio St.3d 240, 2016-Ohio-3422, 63 
N.E.3d 1172, ¶ 9.  Accordingly, the court of appeals correctly determined that res 
judicata precludes Lopez from raising his bindover claim in this habeas corpus 
action.  
Judgment affirmed. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and O’DONNELL, KENNEDY, FRENCH, FISCHER, DEWINE, 
and DEGENARO, JJ., concur. 
_________________ 
Robinson & Brandt, P.S.C., and Jeffrey M. Brandt, for appellant. 
Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Stephanie Watson, Assistant 
Attorney General, for appellee. 
_________________