Ohio Public Defender Prison Legal Packet: Appeals and Postconviction Relief (Ohio)

This Office of the Ohio Public Defender legal packet, prepared by its Prison Legal Services section for people entering Ohio prisons, includes dedicated sections on appeals and postconviction relief. It states that a timely notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the date of entry of judgment, that the entry date is the clerk's stamp rather than the sentencing date, and that the notice is filed in the trial court clerk's office headed In the Court of Common Pleas, alongside a motion for appointment of counsel, an affidavit of indigency, a docketing statement, a motion for transcripts at state's expense and a praecipe. If the 30 days have passed, it explains how to seek leave for a Delayed Appeal under Appellate Rule 5 by motion filed in the court of appeals with a supporting affidavit explaining the delay. The postconviction section explains that R.C. 2953.21 petitions rest on evidence outside the trial record, must attach affidavits or other supporting evidence, and are due within 365 days of the trial transcript being filed in the court of appeals, or 365 days after the last date for a timely notice of appeal if no appeal was taken.