Title: Jennings v. Jackson

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Cite as Jennings v. Jackson, 102 Ohio St.3d 164, 2004-Ohio-2052.] 
 
 
JENNINGS, APPELLANT, v. JACKSON, WARDEN, APPELLEE. 
[Cite as Jennings v. Jackson, 102 Ohio St.3d 164, 2004-Ohio-2052.] 
Habeas corpus sought to compel relator’s release from prison — Dismissal of 
petition affirmed. 
(No. 2003-2153 — Submitted April 14, 2004 — Decided May 12, 2004.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Warren County, No. CA2003-09-092. 
____________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶1} 
On November 8, 2000, the Franklin County Court of Common 
Pleas convicted appellant, Ellis L. Jennings, of four counts of gross sexual 
imposition and sentenced him to seven years in prison.  On appeal, the court of 
appeals affirmed.  State v. Jennings (Sept. 13, 2001), Franklin App. No. 00AP-
1283, 2001 WL 1045490. 
{¶2} 
On September 12, 2003, Jennings filed a petition in the Court of 
Appeals for Warren County for a writ of habeas corpus to compel his release from 
prison.  Jennings claimed that his trial court lacked jurisdiction to convict and 
sentence him because the R.C. 2901.13 statute of limitations had expired before 
the state’s prosecution had commenced.  Appellee, Warren Correctional 
Institution Warden Wanza Jackson, moved to dismiss the petition.  On November 
6, 2003, the court of appeals granted Jackson’s motion and dismissed the petition. 
{¶3} 
We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.  “[A] violation of 
R.C. 2901.13 does not divest the trial court of jurisdiction and is thus not 
cognizable in habeas corpus.”  Daniel v. State, 98 Ohio St.3d 467, 2003-Ohio-
1916, 786 N.E.2d 891, ¶ 7.  “Claims such as statute-of-limitations violations 
‘must be raised on appeal rather than by extraordinary writ.’ ”  Id. at ¶ 8, quoting 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
State ex rel. Tubbs Jones v. Suster (1998), 84 Ohio St.3d 70, 76, 701 N.E.2d 
1002.1 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, 
O’CONNOR and O’DONNELL, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Ellis L. Jennings, pro se. 
 
Jim Petro, Attorney General, and Stuart A. Cole, Assistant Attorney 
General, for appellee. 
__________________ 
                                                 
1.  We deny Jennings’s request for oral argument.