Case Title: In re Disqualification of Kontos

Citation: 2001-Ohio-4097

Docket Number: 2001AP020

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2001-03-06T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as In re Disqualification of Kontos, 94 Ohio St.3d 1224, 2001-Ohio-4097.] 
 
 
IN RE DISQUALIFICATION OF KONTOS. 
THE STATE OF OHIO v. GREEN. 
[Cite as In re Disqualification of Kontos (2001), 94 Ohio St.3d 1224.] 
Judges — Affidavit of disqualification — Affidavit of disqualification not timely 
filed. 
(No. 01-AP-020 — Decided March 6, 2001.) 
ON AFFIDAVIT OF DISQUALIFICATION in Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas 
case No. 00CR574. 
__________________ 
 
MOYER, C.J.  This affidavit of disqualification filed by Gregory Robey, 
co-counsel for defendant, seeks the disqualification of Judge Peter Kontos from 
further proceedings regarding the above-captioned case, State v. Benjamin Green. 
 
This affidavit of disqualification was filed on March 2, 2001, which is the 
same day that a hearing was scheduled by Judge Kontos to consider the 
defendant’s motion to suppress.  R.C. 2701.03(B)(4) requires that an affidavit of 
disqualification be filed no later than seven days prior to the next scheduled 
hearing in the underlying case.  This statutory requirement will be set aside only 
in circumstances where affiant can establish that compliance with the provision is 
impossible.  See In re Disqualification of Leskovyansky (1999), 88 Ohio St.3d 
1210, 723 N.E.2d 1099. 
 
Here, affiant claims that it was impossible to file the affidavit at least 
seven days prior to the hearing scheduled for March 2, 2001, because it was not 
apparent until March 1, 2001, “that the potential conflict of interest cited in the 
affidavit could not be resolved at the trial court level.”  In support of this claim, 
affiant notes that co-counsel made three separate recusal requests of Judge 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
Kontos, including a motion to recuse that was filed three days before the 
scheduled hearing and that was denied the day before the hearing. 
 
Counsel and parties to pending cases are encouraged to resolve potential 
disqualification requests prior to invoking the formal procedures set forth in 
Section 5(C), Article IV of the Ohio Constitution and R.C. 2701.03.  However, 
any attempt to obtain the recusal of a judge must be made in consideration of the 
seven-day requirement established by the General Assembly for timely filing an 
affidavit of disqualification.  Affiant does not demonstrate facts to show that it 
was impossible to comply with the statutory filing requirement.  Rather, the 
record before me indicates that affiant and his co-counsel had sufficient 
opportunity to file an affidavit of disqualification in a timely manner and instead 
chose to file a recusal motion with the trial judge three days before the March 2, 
2001 hearing. 
 
For these reasons, the affidavit of disqualification is found not well taken 
and is denied.  The case shall proceed before Judge Kontos. 
__________________