Title: State ex rel. Chatfield v. Flautt

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State ex rel. Chatfield v. Flautt, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1294.] 
 
 
 
 
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. 2012-OHIO-1294 
THE STATE EX REL. CHATFIELD, APPELLANT, v. FLAUTT, PROS. ATTY., 
APPELLEE. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets,  
it may be cited as State ex rel. Chatfield v. Flautt,  
Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1294.] 
Public records—Court of appeals’ judgment denying writ of mandamus affirmed. 
(No. 2011-1687—Submitted March 21, 2012—Decided March 28, 2012.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Perry County, 
No. 11-CA-6, 2011-Ohio-4659. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals denying the request 
of appellant, inmate James L. Chatfield, for a writ of mandamus ordering 
appellee, Perry County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph A. Flautt, to turn over certain 
records to him.  R.C. 149.43(B)(8) required a finding by Chatfield’s sentencing 
judge or the judge’s successor that the requested information was necessary to 
support what appeared to be a justiciable claim.  State ex rel. Barb v. Cuyahoga 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
2 
 
Cty. Jury Commr., 124 Ohio St.3d 238, 2010-Ohio-120, 921 N.E.2d 236.  
Chatfield obtained the requisite judicial finding from the Perry County Court of 
Common Pleas, but that court specified that the Columbus Police Department, not 
the Perry County prosecuting attorney, would provide the records.  Because 
Chatfield’s sentencing judge did not determine that the Perry County prosecuting 
attorney was the person responsible for the requested public records, Chatfield 
was not entitled to the requested extraordinary relief. 
Judgment affirmed. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
James L. Chatfield, pro se. 
 
Joseph A. Flautt, Perry County Prosecuting Attorney, pro se. 
____________________