Title: In re J.M.

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as In 
re J.M., Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-4935.] 
 
 
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-4935 
IN RE J.M. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as In re J.M., Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-4935.] 
Court of appeals’ judgment vacated in part on the authority of State v. Arnold, 
and cause remanded to the court of appeals. 
(No. 2009-1589 — Submitted July 6, 2010 — Decided October 14, 2010.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Pike County, No. 08CA782, 
2010-Ohio-1484. 
__________________ 
{¶ 1} The discretionary appeal was accepted in this case on Proposition 
of Law No. I and held for the decision in State v. Arnold, 126 Ohio St.3d 290, 
2010-Ohio-2742, 933 N.E.2d 775. 
{¶ 2} We are unable to determine from the court of appeals’ opinion 
whether the juvenile court erroneously admitted statements by the child victim to 
child advocacy center employees.  It is uncertain whether the statements were 
made for forensic or medical purposes and, if the statements were made for 
forensic purposes, whether their admission was harmless error.  Accordingly, the 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
 
portion of the court of appeals’ judgment with respect to appellant J.M.’s third 
assignment of error is vacated, and the cause is remanded to the court of appeals 
for further proceedings consistent with State v. Arnold. 
 
PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’CONNOR, LANZINGER, and CUPP, JJ., 
concur. 
 
BROWN, C.J., concurs in judgment only. 
 
O’DONNELL, J., concurs in the judgment to vacate the judgment of the 
court of appeals in part but would remand for application of the principles 
articulated in his dissenting opinion in State v. Arnold. 
__________________ 
Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Angela Miller, Assistant 
Public Defender, for appellant, J.M. 
______________________