[Cite as State v. Robinson, 2022-Ohio-3566.]

COURT OF APPEALS

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

STATE OF OHIO JUDGES:

Hon. W. Scott Gwin, P.J.

 Plaintiff-Appellee Hon. William B. Hoffman, J.

Hon. Craig R. Baldwin, J.

-vsCase No. CT2022-0032

JOSHUA A. ROBINSON 

 Defendant-Appellant O P I N I O N

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDINGS: Appeal from the Muskingum County 

Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 

CR2017-0251

JUDGMENT: Affirmed 

DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: October 6, 2022

APPEARANCES:

For Plaintiff-Appellee For Defendant-Appellant

RONALD L. WELCH JOSHUA A. ROBINSON

Prosecuting Attorney A741913

Muskingum County, Ohio Lebanon Correctional Institution 

P.O. Box 56

TAYLOR P. BENNINGTON Lebanon, Ohio 45036

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney 

Muskingum County, Ohio 

27 North Fifth Street

P.O. Box 189

Zanesville, Ohio 43702-0189
Muskingum County, Case No. CT2022-0032 2

Hoffman, J.

{¶1} Defendant-appellant Joshua A. Robinson appeals the May 13, 2022 

Judgment Entry entered by the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas, which 

denied his petition for post-conviction relief. Plaintiff-appellee is the state of Ohio.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE1

{¶2} On July 19, 2017, the Muskingum County Grand Jury indicted Appellant on 

one count of felonious assault, in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1), a felony of the second 

degree, with a repeat-violent-offender (“RVO”) specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.149. 

Appellant appeared before the trial court for arraignment on August 9, 2017, and entered 

a plea of not guilty. 

{¶3} The matter proceeded to trial on February 1, 2018. Prior to the 

commencement of trial, Appellant waived his right to a jury trial on the RVO specification. 

After hearing all of the evidence and deliberating, the jury found Appellant guilty of 

felonious assault. Following a bench trial, the trial court found Appellant guilty of the RVO 

specification.

{¶4} Appellant appeared before the trial court for sentencing on February 14, 

2018. The trial court sentenced Appellant to a term of incarceration of eight (8) years on 

the felonious assault conviction and a mandatory consecutive term of incarceration of ten 

(10) years on the RVO specification for an aggregate sentence of eighteen (18) years. 

{¶5} Appellant filed a timely Notice of Appeal to this Court, raising the following 

assignments of error: 

1 A Statement of the Facts underlying Appellant’s convictions and sentence is not necessary for our 

disposition of this Appeal.
Muskingum County, Case No. CT2022-0032 3

I. ROBINSON'S CONVICTION IS BASED ON INSUFFICIENT 

EVIDENCE, IN VIOLATION OF THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF THE 

FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES 

CONSTITUTION AND SECTIONS 1 & 16, ARTICLE I OF THE OHIO 

CONSTITUTION.

II. ROBINSON'S CONVICTION IS AGAINST THE MANIFEST 

WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE IN VIOLATION OF THE DUE PROCESS 

CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE 

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND SECTIONS 1 & 16, ARTICLE I 

OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.

III. THE TRIAL COURT UNLAWFULLY ORDERED ROBINSON TO 

SERVE CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES, IN VIOLATION OF HIS RIGHTS 

TO DUE PROCESS, GUARANTEED BY SECTION 10, ARTICLE 1 OF 

THE OHIO CONSTITUTION AND THE FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH 

AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

IV. ROBINSON RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF 

COUNSEL, IN VIOLATION OF THE SIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE 

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND SECTION 10, ARTICLE I OF THE 

OHIO CONSTITUTION.

{¶6} This Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions and sentence in State v. 

Robinson, 5th Dist. Muskingum No. CT2018-0016, 2018-Ohio-5381, 2018 WL 6921245. 

On March 14, 2022, Appellant filed a pro se Request for New Trial, Modify 
Muskingum County, Case No. CT2022-0032 4

Verdict/Sentence. Via Judgment Entry filed March 15, 2022, the trial court denied 

Appellant’s motion. On May 12, 2022, Appellant filed a pro se Post-Conviction Relief 

Petition. Via Judgment Entry filed May 13, 2022, the trial court denied Appellant’s petition 

for post-conviction relief. 

{¶7} It is from the May 13, 2022 Judgment Entry Appellant appeals, raising as 

his sole assignment of error:

ABUSE OF DISCRETION

I

{¶8} Herein, Appellant asserts the trial court abused its discretion “by neglecting 

to appropriately consider the Post-Conviction Relief Petition, that was filed, through the 

Constitutional Violations of Plain, Prejudicial, Structural and/or Reversible Error.” Brief of 

Appellant at 5. Appellant further contends, “Any/All of these Specific, Constitutional 

Errors supercede [sic] Harmless Error Analysis, cannot be Time-Barred, nor can res 

judicata be claimed . . . nor should it be claimed, due to the Constitutional Deprivation 

that Appellant had endured.” Id. Appellant explains “the Trial Court completely neglected 

to file Any Findings of Fact and/or Conclusions of Law, as to the Denial of his PostConviction Relief Petition.” Id. 

{¶9} Petitions for post-conviction relief are governed by R.C. 2953.21(A)(1)(a), 

which provides:

Any person in any of the following categories may file a petition in 

the court that imposed sentence, stating the grounds for relief relied upon, 

and asking the court to vacate or set aside the judgment or sentence or to 
Muskingum County, Case No. CT2022-0032 5

grant other appropriate relief: (i) Any person who has been convicted of a 

criminal offense * * * and who claims that there was such a denial or 

infringement of the person's rights as to render the judgment void or 

voidable under the Ohio Constitution or the Constitution of the United States 

* * *.

{¶10} “Pursuant to R.C. 2953.21, when a trial court denies a petition for postconviction relief without a hearing, the trial court shall make and file findings of fact and 

conclusions of law.” State v. Reese, 5th Dist. Muskingum No. CT2017-0017, 2017-Ohio4263, ¶ 11. However, a trial court “need not issue findings of fact and conclusions of law 

when it dismisses an untimely [post-conviction-relief] petition.” State ex rel. Kimbrough v. 

Greene, 98 Ohio St.3d 116, 2002–Ohio–7042, 781 N.E.2d 155. “If a petition for postconviction relief is untimely, the trial court [has] no clear duty to issue findings of fact or 

conclusions of law.” Reese, supra at ¶ 12, citing Dillon v. Cottrill, 5th Dist. Muskingum 

No. CT2014–0053, 2015–Ohio–1785. 

{¶11} R.C. 2953.21(A)(2) provides a petition for postconviction relief “shall be filed

no later than three hundred sixty-five days after the date on which the trial transcript is 

filed in the court of appeals in the direct appeal of the judgment of conviction” which is 

challenged by the petition. 

{¶12} Here, Appellant pursued his direct appeal in March, 2018. His petition was 

filed more than four years later. A trial court has no jurisdiction to hear an untimely petition 

for post-conviction relief unless the movant meets the requirements set forth in R.C. § 
Muskingum County, Case No. CT2022-0032 6

2953.23(A). State v. Walker, 5th Dist. No. 12-CAA-020010, 2012-Ohio-3095, citing State 

v. Demastry, 5th Dist. No. 05CA-14, 2005-Ohio-4962 ¶ 15. 

{¶13} In order for a court to recognize an untimely post-conviction petition, both 

of the following requirements must apply:

(a) Either the petitioner shows that the petitioner was unavoidably 

prevented from discovery of the facts upon which the petitioner must rely to 

present the claim for relief, or, subsequent to the period prescribed in 

division (A)(2) of section 2953.21 of the Revised Code or to the filing of an 

earlier petition, the United States Supreme Court recognized a new federal 

or state right that applies retroactively to persons in the petitioner's situation,

and the petition asserts a claim based on that right.

(b) The petitioner shows by clear and convincing evidence that, but 

for constitutional error at trial, no reasonable factfinder would have found 

the petitioner guilty of the offense of which the petitioner was convicted or, 

if the claim challenges a sentence of death that, but for constitutional error 

at the sentencing hearing, no reasonable factfinder would have found the 

petitioner eligible for the death sentence.

R.C. 2953.23(A)(1).

{¶14} We find Appellant failed to satisfy the statutory exceptions to the untimely 

filing of a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to R.C. 2953.23(A)(1). A petitioner's 

failure to satisfy R.C. 2953.23(A) deprives a trial court of jurisdiction to adjudicate the 
Muskingum County, Case No. CT2022-0032 7

merits of an untimely or successive postconviction petition. See, State v. Apanovitch, 

155 Ohio St.3d 358, 2018-Ohio-4744, 121 N.E.3d 351, ¶ 36. Because Appellant’s petition 

was untimely, we find the trial court was not required make any findings of fact and 

conclusions of law. We further find the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying 

Appellant’s petition for post-conviction relief.

{¶15} Appellant’s sole assignment of error is overruled.

{¶16} The judgment of the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas is 

affirmed. 

By: Hoffman, J.

Gwin, P.J. and

Baldwin, J. concur

HON. WILLIAM B. HOFFMAN

HON. W. SCOTT GWIN

HON. CRAIG R. BALDWIN