Title: Brown v. Hall

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
Brown v. Hall, Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-5592.] 
 
 
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. 2009-OHIO-5592 
BROWN, APPELLANT, v. HALL, WARDEN, APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as Brown v. Hall, Slip Opinion No. 2009-Ohio-5592.] 
Habeas corpus — Remanded to appellate court for entry of judgment of dismissal 
— Appellate court erred in addressing merits when petition filed in county 
other than county in which petitioner is incarcerated. 
(No. 2009-0819 — Submitted October 20, 2009 — Decided October 29, 2009.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Stark County, No. 2009 CA 00034,  
2009-Ohio-1349. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals for Stark County 
and remand the cause to that court to dismiss the habeas corpus petition of 
appellant, Felix Brown Jr.  The court of appeals erred in addressing the merits of 
Brown’s habeas corpus claim because he incorrectly filed it in Stark County 
instead of the county in which he is incarcerated, Richland County.  See R.C. 
2725.03 (“If a person restrained of his liberty is an inmate of a state benevolent or 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
 
correctional institution, the location of which is fixed by statute and at the time is 
in the custody of the officers of the institution, no court or judge other than the 
courts or judges of the county in which the institution is located has jurisdiction to 
issue or determine a writ of habeas corpus for his production or discharge”).  
Even though Brown’s petition reached the same district court of appeals it would 
have had it been filed in the correct county, the court of appeals still lacked 
jurisdiction to determine the merits of Brown’s petition.  Goudlock v. Voorhies, 
119 Ohio St.3d 398, 2008-Ohio-4787, 894 N.E.2d 692, ¶ 17, citing Sevayega v. 
Bobby, Mahoning App. No. 03 MA 48, 2003-Ohio-6395, 2003 WL 22839346, ¶ 
4. 
Judgment reversed  
and cause remanded. 
 
MOYER, C.J., and LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’CONNOR, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, and CUPP, JJ., concur. 
 
PFEIFER, J., concurs in judgment only. 
__________________ 
 
Felix Brown Jr., pro se. 
 
Richard Cordray, Attorney General, and Gene D. Park, Assistant Attorney 
General, for appellee. 
______________________