Ohio Code 109.97 – Capital case status report
(A) As used in this section:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 109.97
- Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
- imprisonment: means being imprisoned under a sentence imposed for an offense or serving a term of imprisonment, prison term, jail term, term of local incarceration, or other term under a sentence imposed for an offense in an institution under the control of the department of rehabilitation and correction, a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, a minimum security jail, a community-based correctional facility, or another facility described or referred to in section 2929. See Ohio Code 1.05
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59
(1) “Commutation,” “pardon,” “prisoner,” and “state correctional institution” have the same meanings as in section 2967.01 of the Revised Code.
(2) “Individual’s present legal status” means whichever of the following circumstances apply on the thirty-first day of December of the calendar year covered by a capital case status report described in divisions (B) and (C) of this section to an individual who was sentenced to death pursuant to sections 2929.02 to 2929.04 or section 2929.06 of the Revised Code for an aggravated murder committed on or after October 19, 1981:
(a) The individual was executed in accordance with section 2949.22 of the Revised Code for the aggravated murder, or the individual otherwise is deceased.
(b) The individual continues to be confined in a state correctional institution waiting for the execution of the sentence of death.
(c) The individual has been released from confinement in a state correctional institution pursuant to a pardon granted in connection with the aggravated murder, or the individual has been granted a commutation in connection with the aggravated murder and has been released from confinement or is serving a prison term or sentence of imprisonment pursuant to the commutation.
(d) The individual has had the sentence of death vacated or reversed on appeal or pursuant to division (C) of section 2929.05 of the Revised Code or otherwise has been relieved of the sentence of death by a court of this state or the United States.
(e) The individual has had the sentence of death vacated as described in section 2929.06 of the Revised Code or otherwise, the individual has been resentenced pursuant to that section or otherwise to a sentence other than a sentence of death, and the individual is a prisoner serving a prison term or sentence of imprisonment in a state correctional institution.
(f) The individual is confined in a correctional institution of another state or the United States for the commission of another offense or has been executed in accordance with a sentence of death imposed by a court of another state or the United States for the commission of another offense.
(g) The individual has escaped from confinement in a state correctional institution or a correctional institution of another state or the United States and currently is at-large.
(B) The attorney general annually shall prepare or cause to be prepared a capital case status report that pertains to all individuals who were sentenced to death pursuant to sections 2929.02 to 2929.04 or section 2929.06 of the Revised Code for an aggravated murder committed on or after October 19, 1981, and that contains for each of those individuals the information described in division (C)(1) of this section. The attorney general shall file a copy of each annual capital case status report with the governor, the chief justice of the supreme court, the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives no later than the first day of April of the calendar year following the calendar year covered by the report. Each annual capital case status report shall be a public record subject to inspection and copying in accordance with section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
(C)(1) An annual capital case status report prepared pursuant to division (B) of this section shall contain all of the following information that pertains as of the thirty-first day of December of the calendar year covered by the report to each individual who was sentenced to death pursuant to sections 2929.02 to 2929.04 or 2929.06 of the Revised Code for an aggravated murder committed on or after October 19, 1981:
(a) A citation to and brief summary of the facts of each case in which the individual was sentenced to death pursuant to sections 2929.02 to 2929.04 or section 2929.06 of the Revised Code for an aggravated murder committed on or after October 19, 1981;
(b) A statement as to the individual’s present legal status;
(c) A summary history of the individual’s legal actions to vacate, reverse, or otherwise be relieved from the sentence of death described in division (C)(1)(a) of this section, including, but not limited to, motions to vacate the sentence of death, appeals, petitions for postconviction relief, and petitions for habeas corpus relief filed with a court of this state or a court of the United States under section 2929.05, 2953.21, or another section of the Revised Code, the Ohio Constitution, federal statutes, or the United States Constitution;
(d) Any other information that the attorney general determines is relevant, including, but not limited to, a tentatively scheduled date for the execution of the individual’s sentence of death in accordance with section 2949.22 of the Revised Code.
(2) In each annual capital case status report prepared pursuant to division (B) of this section, the attorney general shall set forth or cause to be set forth the information described in division (C)(1) of this section in the form that the attorney general considers most appropriate to present that information, including, but not limited to, charts, tables, graphs, and narrative summaries.
(D) All officers and employees of the government of this state and its political subdivisions shall cooperate, upon request of the attorney general, in providing information that facilitates the attorney general in the performance of the attorney general’s responsibilities under this section.