[Cite as State v. Lawrence, 2016-Ohio-7626.]

 

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO 

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT 

 MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

STATE OF OHIO 

Plaintiff-Appellee 

v. 

PHILLIP H. LAWRENCE 

Defendant-Appellant 

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Appellate Case No. 27014 

Trial Court Case No. 2001-CR-459 

(Criminal Appeal from 

 Common Pleas Court) 

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O P I N I O N 

Rendered on the 4th day of November, 2016. 

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MATHIAS H. HECK, JR., by MICHELE D. PHIPPS, Atty. Reg. No. 0069829, Montgomery 

County Prosecutor’s Office, Appellate Division, Montgomery County Courts Building, P.O. 

Box 972, 301 West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402 

 Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee 

 

PHILLIP LAWRENCE, #414-996, Post Office Box 69, London, Ohio 43140 

 Defendant-Appellant, pro se

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FAIN, J. 

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Philip H. Lawrence appeals from an order overruling his 

post-conviction motion to set aside his conviction based on incomplete verdict forms. 
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Lawrence contends that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter judgment against him 

without a jury determination of the requisite findings that Lawrence acted “purposely” for 

the charge of Murder under R.C. 2903.02(A), and without a specific jury finding on the 

elements of Felonious Assault, which was the underlying offense for the charge of Murder 

under R.C. 2903.02(B). Lawrence contends that the trial court erred by overruling his 

motion on the basis of res judicata. We conclude that the trial court had jurisdiction to 

enter judgment based on the jury verdicts, and that the doctrine of res judicata applies. 

Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is Affirmed. 

I. The Course of the Proceedings 

{¶ 2} In 2002, Lawrence was found guilty by a jury on two counts of Murder, both 

with firearm specifications. The trial court merged the Murder convictions into one, 

merged the firearm specifications into one firearm specification, and sentenced Lawrence 

to an aggregate prison term of 18 years to life. We affirmed, concluding that Lawrence 

was not denied the effective assistance of counsel, that the convictions were not against 

the manifest weight of the evidence, and that Lawrence was not prejudiced by 

prosecutorial misconduct. State v. Lawrence, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 19059, 2002-

Ohio-5533. In that appeal, Lawrence did not raise the alleged defects in the verdict forms 

that he now raises in the appeal before us. 

{¶ 3} In 2011, we dismissed an appeal, based on lack of jurisdiction, from the trial 

court’s overruling of Lawrence’s motion for a revised sentence to comply with Crim. R. 

32(C). State v. Lawrence, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 24389 (Feb. 23, 2011). Also in 2011, 

Lawrence moved for leave to file a delayed motion for a new trial, which was overruled 
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by the trial court. We reversed, and remanded the cause, directing the trial court to 

consider Lawrence’s motion on the merits. State v. Lawrence, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 

24725, 2012-Ohio-837. Lawrence’s motion was again overruled, after the trial court 

conducted a hearing. We affirmed. State v. Lawrence, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 

25623, 2014-Ohio-417. On the same grounds, seeking a declaration that he should 

have been granted a new trial, Lawrence unsuccessfully pursued a petition for habeas 

corpus relief in federal court. Lawrence v. Warden, London Correctional Institution, S.D. 

Ohio No. 3:14-cv-459, 2014 WL 7338774 (Dec. 22, 2014). 

{¶ 4} In the case before us, Lawrence moved to set aside his conviction, arguing 

that the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to enter a judgment of conviction 

because of errors in the verdict forms. Lawrence appeals from the overruling of his 

motion, on res judicata grounds. 

II. The Trial Court Correctly Applied the Doctrine of Res Judicata 

{¶ 5} For his sole assignment of error, Lawrence asserts: 

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION BY OVERRULING 

APPELLANT’S MOTION ON GROUNDS THAT ANY ISSUE THAT 

INVOLVES A VERDICT FORM IS BARRED BY RES JUDICATA 

{¶ 6} Lawrence argues that the trial court should not have dismissed his postconviction motion on the basis of res judicata. Lawrence claims that because of the 

defective verdict forms, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter judgment against him. 

We agree that res judicata does not bar review of claims based on lack of subject-matter 

jurisdiction. “Jurisdiction means the courts' statutory or constitutional power to adjudicate 
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the case.” Pratts v. Hurley, 102 Ohio St.3d 81, 2004-Ohio-1980, 806 N.E 2d 992, ¶ 11. 

(Internal citations omitted.) “It is only when the trial court lacks subject matter jurisdiction 

that its judgment is void; lack of jurisdiction over the particular case merely renders the 

judgment voidable.” Id. at ¶ 12. “Because subject-matter jurisdiction goes to the power 

of the court to adjudicate the merits of a case, it can never be waived and may be 

challenged at any time.” Id. at ¶ 11. In the case before us, we conclude that the trial 

court did have jurisdiction to enter judgment against Lawrence. 

{¶ 7} We have recently addressed alleged errors on similar verdict forms, 

concluding that the verdict forms were not defective. State v. Taylor, 2d Dist. 

Montgomery No. 26896, 2016-Ohio-5541. As in the case before us, the defendant in 

Taylor argued that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to convict him of murder when 

the jury verdict forms did not require the jury to make an affirmative finding that Taylor

acted with “purpose” to commit murder, and did not require the jury to make an affirmative 

finding that Taylor had committed the offense of kidnapping as the underlying offense for 

the felony murder conviction. We held that the trial court correctly concluded that the jury 

did not need to find separately that the murder was purposeful. Id. at ¶ 17. We further 

held that juries are not required to make a separate finding of guilt as to the predicate 

felony in a felony murder verdict. Id. at ¶ 18, 19. 

{¶ 8} In Taylor, we also held that the claim based upon the alleged error in the 

verdict form was barred by the doctrine of res judicata, and was only reviewable in a direct 

appeal. Taylor at ¶ 21. In reaching this conclusion, we focused on Ohio Supreme Court 

precedent, which limits post-conviction reviews to void judgments with sentencing errors 

that are contrary to law, such as the failure to impose a mandatory term for post-release 
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control. Id., citing State v. Fischer, 128 Ohio St.3d 92, 2010-Ohio-6238, 942 N.E.2d 332, 

¶ 30. “Generally, sentencing errors do not render a judgment void because such errors 

have no effect upon the trial court's jurisdiction.” State v. Holmes, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 

100388, 2014-Ohio-3816, ¶ 15. 

{¶ 9} In Taylor, we did not address whether a challenge to a non-sentencing issue 

– a defective verdict form, for example – can create a void or voidable judgment or 

constitute a jurisdictional defect. A void judgment is one that has been imposed by a court 

that lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over the case or the authority to act. See State v. 

Payne, 114 Ohio St.3d 502, 2007-Ohio-4642, 873 N.E.2d 306, ¶ 27. Unlike a void 

judgment, a voidable judgment is one rendered by a court that has both jurisdiction and 

authority to act, but the court's judgment is invalid, irregular, or erroneous. See id. 

{¶ 10} In support of his argument, Lawrence cites a federal district court case that 

was affirmed in U.S. v. Amaya, 731 F.3d 761 (8th Cir. 2013), setting aside a conviction 

and ordering a new trial based on an error in the verdict form. In Amaya, the verdict form 

had no place for the jury to write in, circle, or check a box to affirmatively indicate whether 

its verdict was guilty or not guilty, and an attempt was made to correct this defect by 

polling the jury rather than providing a corrected form and returning the jury to deliberate 

until a verdict was reached using the correct form. Both the district court and the circuit 

court held that the verdict form defect was plain error, but did not conclude that it was a 

jurisdictional defect that rendered the judgment void. Amaya at 765. 

{¶ 11} When noticed in a direct appeal, plain error may be grounds for a voidable 

judgment, resulting in reversal of a conviction, but plain error does not result in the 

judgment being void when the error does not involve the trial court’s lack of jurisdiction or 
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authority to act. See State v. Johnston, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 25652, 2013-Ohio-4401, 

¶ 15. Unless otherwise provided by the statute governing petitions for post-conviction 

relief, R.C. 2953.21, errors that are grounds for a voidable judgment are barred from 

review when raised in a post-conviction motion, based on the doctrine of res judicata. 

“Pursuant to res judicata, a defendant cannot raise an issue in a motion for postconviction 

relief if he or she could have raised the issue on direct appeal. “ State v. Reynolds, 79 

Ohio St.3d 158, 161, 679 N.E.2d 1131 (1997). “A void sentence ‘is not precluded from 

appellate review by principles of res judicata, and may be reviewed at any time, on direct 

appeal or by collateral attack.’ ” State v. Parson, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 24641, 2012-

Ohio-730, ¶ 8, quoting State v. Fischer, 128 Ohio St.3d 92, 2010-Ohio-6238, 942 N.E.2d 

233, at paragraph one of the syllabus. 

{¶ 12} For example, it has been held that the court of common pleas lacks 

subject-matter jurisdiction to convict a 17-year-old defendant who was not bound over 

from juvenile court. State v. Wilson, 73 Ohio St.3d 40, 652 N.E. 2d 196 (1995). See also

Zanesville v. Rouse, 126 Ohio St.3d 1, 2010-Ohio-2218, 929 N.E.2d 1044, ¶ 5, judgment 

vacated in part on reconsideration on other grounds, 126 Ohio St.3d 1227, 2010-Ohio3754, 933 N.E.2d 260 (municipal court has no jurisdiction without the filing of a complaint); 

Rocky River v. Bakos, 2015-Ohio-4366, 45 N.E.3d 668 (8th Dist. Cuyahoga) (defendant 

could not be prosecuted for violating a protection order that the court did not have 

jurisdiction to grant). 

{¶ 13} Other attempts to frame a post-conviction motion as an attack on the 

court’s subject-matter jurisdiction have failed. See, e.g., State v. Cline, 2d Dist. 

Champaign No. 2013CA51, 2014-Ohio-4503 (certain deficiencies in the indictment do not 
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deprive the court of subject-matter jurisdiction); State v. Cline, 5th Dist. Richland No. 2009 

CA 0091, 2010-Ohio-1144 (statutes not invalid for lack of enacting provisions); State v. 

Acevedo, 9th Dist. Lorain No. 14CA10572, 2015-Ohio-2471 (standing of prosecutor to 

initiate case not jurisdictional); State v. Morris, 11th Dist. Trumbull No. 2013-T-0019, 

2013-Ohio-5485 (failure of clerk to time-stamp a document does not create a jurisdictional 

defect). 

{¶ 14} We find no support for the proposition that a defect in a jury verdict form 

affects a trial court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. Several courts have held that issues 

related to jury verdict forms must be raised in the direct appeal, and any attempt to raise 

those issues in a subsequent appeal is barred by res judicata. State v. Holmes, 8th Dist. 

Cuyahoga No. 100388, 2014-Ohio-3816; State v. Pesci, 11th Dist. Lake No. 2011-L-057, 

2011-Ohio-6211; State v. Garner, 11th Dist. Lake No. 2010-L-111, 2011-Ohio-3426; State 

v. Evans, 9th Dist. Wayne No. 10CA0027, 2011-Ohio-1449; State v. Foy, 5th Dist. Stark 

No. 2009-CA-00239, 2010-Ohio-2445. In the case before us, Lawrence did not raise the 

alleged defects in the verdict forms in his direct appeal. State v. Lawrence, 2d Dist. 

Montgomery No. 19059, 2002-Ohio-5533. 

{¶ 15} “Under the doctrine of res judicata, a final judgment of conviction bars a 

convicted defendant who was represented by counsel from raising and litigating in any 

proceeding except an appeal from that judgment, any defense or any claimed lack of due 

process that was raised or could have been raised by the defendant at the trial, which 

resulted in that judgment of conviction, or on an appeal from that judgment.” State v. 

Perry, 10 Ohio St. 2d 175, 176, 226 N.E. 2d 104 (1967), paragraph nine of the syllabus. 

Consequently, “the doctrine serves to preclude a defendant who has had his day in court 
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from seeking a second on that same issue. In so doing, res judicata promotes the 

principles of finality and judicial economy by preventing endless relitigation of an issue on 

which a defendant has already received a full and fair opportunity to be heard.” State v. 

Saxon, 109 Ohio St. 3d 176, 2006-Ohio-1245, 846 N.E. 2d 824, ¶ 18. 

{¶ 16} We conclude that because the alleged defect in the verdict form does not 

create a jurisdictional defect, the trial court correctly concluded that the issue is now 

barred from consideration, based on the doctrine of res judicata. The sole assignment of 

error is overruled. 

III. Conclusion 

{¶ 17} Lawrence’s sole assignment of error having been overruled, the order of 

the trial court overruling his motion to set aside his conviction is Affirmed. 

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FROELICH and HALL, JJ., concur. 

Copies mailed to: 

Mathias H. Heck, Jr. 

Michele D. Phipps 

Phillip H. Lawrence 

Hon. Gregory F. Singer