Case Title: State ex rel. Galloway v. Cook

Citation: 2010-Ohio-3780

Docket Number: 20100567

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2010-08-19T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State ex rel. Galloway v. Cook, Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-3780.] 
 
 
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. 2010-OHIO-3780 
THE STATE EX REL. GALLOWAY, APPELLANT, v. COOK, JUDGE, APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Galloway v. Cook,  
Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-3780.] 
Court of appeals’ judgment denying petition for writ of mandamus affirmed — 
Appellant failed to establish that judge abused her discretion by staying 
her ruling on his motion for an evidentiary hearing pending this court’s 
resolution of comparable issues in a different case. 
(No. 2010-0567 — Submitted August 10, 2010 — Decided August 19, 2010.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Lucas County, No. L-09-1221, 
2010-Ohio-688. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals denying the 
petition of appellant, James Franklin Galloway, for a writ of mandamus to compel 
appellee, Lucas County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook, to hold an 
evidentiary hearing on his objection to his sex-offender reclassification pursuant 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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to Ohio’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law contained in 2007 
Senate Bill 10 (“S.B. 10”) and on his postconviction motions to dismiss his 
criminal case. 
{¶ 2} As for Galloway’s objection to his reclassification as a Tier III sex 
offender under S.B. 10, Galloway failed to establish that Judge Cook abused her 
discretion by staying her ruling on his motion for an evidentiary hearing pending 
this court’s resolution of comparable issues in the discretionary appeal in State v. 
Bodyke, __ Ohio St.3d __, 2010-Ohio-2424, __ N.E.2d ___.1  See State ex rel. 
Charvat v. Frye, 114 Ohio St.3d 76, 2007-Ohio-2882, 868 N.E.2d 270, ¶ 16, 
quoting State ex rel. Verhovec v. Mascio (1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 334, 336, 691 
N.E.2d 282 (“ ‘The determination of whether to issue a stay of proceedings 
generally rests within the court’s discretion and will not be disturbed absent a 
showing of an abuse of discretion’ ”). 
{¶ 3} As for Galloway’s remaining claim that he is also entitled to an 
evidentiary hearing on his motions to dismiss his criminal convictions based on 
his actual innocence and the court’s lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, “courts are 
not required to hold a hearing in every postconviction case.”  State ex rel. Madsen 
v. Foley Jones, 106 Ohio St.3d 178, 2005-Ohio-4381, 833 N.E.2d 291, ¶ 10.  And 
because Judge Cook has now denied Galloway’s motions for an evidentiary 
hearing on his motions to dismiss, Galloway has an adequate remedy in the 
ordinary course of law by appeal to challenge these rulings.  State ex rel. Hach v. 
Summit Cty. Court of Common Pleas, 102 Ohio St.3d 75, 2004-Ohio-1800, 806 
N.E.2d 554, ¶ 8. 
{¶ 4} Therefore, the court of appeals correctly denied the writ of 
mandamus.  Even if it were the case that the court’s rationale was incorrect in 
                                                 
1.  We decided Bodyke on June 3, 2010, while this appeal was pending.  A joint motion for 
reconsideration and/or clarification was filed on June 14 and was denied on August 17, 2010. 
 
January Term, 2010 
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part, “[w]e will not reverse a correct judgment simply because some or all of a 
lower court’s reasons are erroneous.”  State ex rel. Swain v. Bartleson, 123 Ohio 
St.3d 125, 2009-Ohio-4690, 914 N.E.2d 403, ¶ 1. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
BROWN, 
C.J., 
and 
PFEIFER, 
LUNDBERG 
STRATTON, 
O’CONNOR, 
O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, and CUPP, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
James Franklin Galloway, pro se. 
 
Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, and Evy M. Jarrett, 
Assistant Attorney General, for appellee. 
______________________