Case Title: State ex rel. Earl v. Shafer

Citation: 1999-Ohio-388

Docket Number: 19982548

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

Document:
THE STATE EX REL. EARL, APPELLANT, v. SHAFER, CUSTODIAN OF RECORDS, 
APPELLEE. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Earl v. Shafer (1999), ___ Ohio St.3d ___.] 
Mandamus to compel Custodian of Records of Mansfield Correctional Institution 
to correct relator’s records in accordance with former R.C. 2929.41(E)(2) 
and to recalculate his parole eligibility date — Complaint dismissed, when. 
(No. 98-2548 — Submitted March 9, 1999 — Decided April 28, 1999.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Richland County, No. 98CA93. 
 
In September 1991, appellant, Jonathan Earl, was convicted of four counts 
of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition, and sentenced to an aggregate 
prison term of twenty-three to fifty years.  In October 1998, Earl filed a complaint 
in the Court of Appeals for Richland County for a writ of mandamus to compel 
respondent, Sandra Shafer, Custodian of Records of Mansfield Correctional 
Institution, to correct his records in accordance with former R.C. 2929.41(E)(2) 
and to recalculate his parole eligibility date to either December 2001 or January 
2002, depending on his good-time credits.  The court of appeals dismissed the 
complaint. 
 
This cause is now before the court upon an appeal as of right. 
__________________ 
 
Jonathan Earl, pro se. 
 
Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, and Jihad M. Smaili, Assistant 
Attorney General, for appellee. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam.  We affirm the dismissal of Earl’s mandamus action.  Earl has 
an adequate legal remedy by way of a declaratory judgment action in common 
pleas court to correct his prison record.  State ex rel. Konoff v. Shafer (1997), 80 
Ohio St.3d 294, 295-296, 685 N.E.2d 1248, 1249-1250; State ex rel. Yonkings v. 
 
2
Ohio Dept. of Rehab. & Corr. (Oct. 28, 1993), Franklin App. No. 93AP-655, 
unreported, 1993 WL 435190, affirmed (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 70, 630 N.E.2d 365.  
There is no evidence of any present injury to Earl that would prevent a declaratory 
judgment from providing a complete, beneficial, and speedy remedy.  Konoff, 80 
Ohio St.3d at 295-296, 685 N.E.2d at 1250, citing Schrader v. Vilevac (Jan. 31, 
1996), Lorain App. No. 95CA006187, unreported, 1996 WL 37762. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and 
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur.