Deadlines After A Conviction
ORC 2953.21 — 365 days for a postconviction petition
An appeal of a felony sentence. The section gives a defendant an appeal of a felony sentence on the grounds it lists, filed in the court of appeals within the time limits specified in Rule 4(B) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure. The section names the rule rather than restating it, and the rule is not on this page.
A postconviction petition: three hundred sixty five days. A petition for postconviction relief is filed in the court that imposed the sentence no later than three hundred sixty five days after the date the trial transcript is filed in the court of appeals in the direct appeal. If no appeal is taken, it is filed no later than three hundred sixty five days after the time for filing the appeal expires. The court considers a timely petition even while the direct appeal is pending.
- Within ten days after the petition is docketed, or a further time the court fixes for good cause, the prosecuting attorney responds by answer or motion.
- Within twenty days from the date the issues are raised, either party may move for summary judgment.
- Every ground for relief is stated in the petition, and a ground left out is waived, except as the section on late petitions provides.
- Unless the petition and the files and records of the case show the petitioner is not entitled to relief, the court proceeds to a prompt hearing.
A late or second petition. A court may not entertain a petition filed after that period, or a second petition for similar relief, unless the petitioner shows both that the petitioner was unavoidably prevented from discovering the facts the claim rests on, or that the United States Supreme Court has since recognized a new right that applies retroactively to people in the petitioner's situation, and, by clear and convincing evidence, that but for constitutional error at trial no reasonable factfinder would have found the petitioner guilty. DNA testing results that establish actual innocence by clear and convincing evidence are the other way through.
The only route of its kind. Apart from an appeal of a felony sentence, the postconviction petition is the exclusive remedy for a collateral challenge to the validity of a conviction or sentence. An order granting or denying it is a final judgment that may be appealed.
The appellate rule's own time limits, a delayed appeal, a motion for a new trial, an application to reopen an appeal, applications for DNA testing and federal habeas corpus each run on their own rules and are not on this page. A case with a sentence of death has provisions of its own. Whether a petition is timely in a particular case is a question for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORC 2953.21 — The petition for postconviction relief, and the year it has to be filed in
- ORC 2953.08 — Appeal of a felony sentence as a matter of right
- ORC 2953.23 — When a late or a second postconviction petition may be entertained at all
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.