Case Title: State ex rel. Johnson v. McClelland

Citation: 2014-Ohio-4533

Docket Number: 2013-2017

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2014-10-15T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State ex rel. Johnson v. McClelland, Slip Opinion No. 2014-Ohio-4533.] 
 
 
 
 
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. 2014-OHIO-4533 
THE STATE EX REL. JOHNSON, APPELLANT, v. MCCLELLAND, JUDGE, ET AL., 
APPELLEES. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets,  
it may be cited as State ex rel. Johnson v. McClelland,  
Slip Opinion No. 2014-Ohio-4533.] 
Mandamus—Procedendo—Petition for resentencing after death sentence 
“vacated”—Res judicata precludes issuance of writ when identical 
argument unsuccessful in previous actions filed by relator. 
(No. 2013-2017—Submitted October 7, 2014—Decided October 15, 2014.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County, No. 100427,  
2013-Ohio-5442. 
_____________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} We affirm the Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals’ judgment 
dismissing a petition for writs of mandamus and/or procedendo to compel a trial 
judge to resentence relator-appellant, John A. Johnson.  Johnson had been 
convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death in 1976.  The sentence 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
 
was affirmed by the court of appeals, but we reversed the death sentence and 
modified Johnson’s sentence to life in prison based on U.S. Supreme Court 
decisions. 
{¶ 2} This is the latest in a series of petitions Johnson has filed, asserting 
that he should have been returned to the common pleas court for resentencing 
after his death sentence was “vacated.”  The court of appeals dismissed.  Because 
Johnson has made or could have made the same arguments on at least two 
occasions before, the case is res judicata, and we affirm. 
Facts 
{¶ 3} In 1976, the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court convicted 
Johnson of aggravated murder with specifications, kidnapping, and rape.  The 
common pleas court sentenced Johnson to death for the aggravated murder with 
specifications and further sentenced him to prison for his kidnapping and rape 
convictions. On appeal, the court of appeals affirmed. State v. Johnson, 8th Dist. 
Cuyahoga No. 36618, 1978 WL 217677 (Jan. 30, 1978).  In 1978, we reversed 
Johnson’s death sentence and modified the sentence to life imprisonment based 
on Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978), and Bell 
v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 637, 98 S.Ct. 2977, 57 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1978). 
{¶ 4} In 1998, Johnson filed a petition in the Court of Appeals for 
Richland County for a writ of habeas corpus to compel his release from prison 
because he had never been returned to the common pleas court for resentencing 
under Crim.R. 32 and 43 after his death sentence had been modified. The court of 
appeals dismissed Johnson’s petition, and on appeal, we affirmed.  Johnson v. 
Mitchell, 85 Ohio St.3d 123, 707 N.E.2d 471 (1999). 
{¶ 5} In October 2007, Johnson filed a second petition for a writ of 
habeas corpus in the Court of Appeals for Richland County.  Johnson claimed that 
he was entitled to the writ because both his 1976 sentencing entry and this court’s 
1978 entry modifying his death sentence to life imprisonment were void for 
January Term, 2014 
3 
 
several reasons, including that the sentencing entry did not comply with Crim.R. 
32. The respondent in that case, Mansfield Correctional Institution Warden Stuart 
Hudson, filed a motion to dismiss. The court of appeals granted the warden’s 
motion and dismissed the petition.  State ex rel. Johnson v. Hudson, 5th Dist. 
Richland No. 07-CA-100, 2008-Ohio-34.  We affirmed on the basis of res 
judicata.  118 Ohio St.3d 308, 2008-Ohio-2451, 888 N.E.2d 1090, ¶ 5, citing 
Everett v. Eberlin, 114 Ohio St.3d 199, 2007-Ohio-3832, 870 N.E.2d 1190, ¶ 8 
(“Having filed a previous petition, Johnson is barred by res judicata from filing a 
successive habeas corpus petition”). 
{¶ 6} In 2013, Johnson filed this complaint for a writ of mandamus 
and/or procedendo asking the Eighth District to direct appellees, Judge Robert 
McClelland and the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, to resentence him 
in his original criminal case.  This is the same relief he sought in his two previous 
habeas actions.  The court of appeals dismissed the complaint on the respondents’ 
motion.  Johnson appealed. 
Analysis 
{¶ 7} Res judicata precludes a writ.  In two separate previous habeas 
actions, Johnson unsuccessfully challenged the validity of his sentence.  The court 
of appeals properly dismissed this third attempt to compel resentencing. 
{¶ 8} Moreover, as we observed in Johnson v. Mitchell, 85 Ohio St.3d at 
124, 707 N.E.2d 471, R.C. 2929.06, on which Johnson largely bases his 
arguments, did not become effective until 1981 and applies only when a death 
sentence is vacated.  139 Ohio Laws, Part I, 1, 18-19.  Because we modified, but 
did not vacate his sentence, three years before the statute became effective, 
Johnson is not entitled to a resentencing hearing.  85 Ohio St.3d at 124. 
{¶ 9} In short, Johnson has made all these arguments in previous actions 
and has lost in every case.  The legal issues are res judicata, and the court of 
appeals was justified in dismissing his petition. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
4 
 
Judgment affirmed. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, KENNEDY, 
FRENCH, and O’NEILL, JJ., concur. 
_____________________ 
 
John A. Johnson, pro se. 
 
Timothy J. McGinty, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and James 
E. Moss, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellees. 
_________________________