Walk It Through: The Clocks on a Case
Four deadlines, and two that run out in silence.
Charged. Nobody mentions a clock, and one is already running.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
The statutory speedy trial count is a different question from the constitutional test and is answered by different rules. Which days actually count on one docket, whether an entry tolled anything, and whether a waiver was signed along the way are questions about a specific file. What has to be disclosed in a particular case, and what a Brady claim needs to succeed, each carry a long body of case law. Nothing on this page computes a date.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
17 words
- DegreeThe classification every Ohio offense carries, from minor misdemeanor up to felony of the first degree. The degree sets the available range before anyone looks at the facts.
- Minor misdemeanorThe bottom rung of the Ohio code. No jail term at all, a fine capped at one hundred and fifty dollars, and a section that says an officer shall issue a citation rather than arrest unless one of four exceptions applies.
- Post release controlSupervision by the adult parole authority after a prison term, required for some degrees and discretionary for others. Violations can carry additional prison time.
- Pretrial motionA request to the court decided before trial, a motion to suppress evidence among them. The rule puts all of them within thirty-five days after arraignment or seven days before trial, whichever is earlier.
- Speedy trial timeThe number of days Ohio gives the state to bring a person to trial, counted from arrest or service of summons. Thirty for a minor misdemeanor, forty five, ninety, and two hundred and seventy for a felony.
- TollingA period that pushes the trial deadline out rather than counting against it. Section 2945.72 lists them, and several belong to the accused, including a continuance granted on their own motion.
- Triple countEach day a person is held in jail in lieu of bail on the pending charge counts as three days against the speedy trial count. It turns a felony's two hundred and seventy days into ninety.
- ArraignmentThe hearing where the charge is read and a plea is entered. In Ohio the initial appearance and the arraignment can happen at the same hearing in a misdemeanor case.
- Jury demandThe written filing that gets a jury in a petty offense case. It goes to the clerk not less than ten days before the trial date, or on or before the third day after notice of that date, whichever is later.
- Petty offenseA misdemeanor that is not a serious offense, meaning one whose penalty does not include confinement for more than six months. In a petty offense case the judge hears the trial unless a jury is demanded in writing.
- Serious offenseAny felony, and any misdemeanor whose penalty includes confinement for more than six months. A jury is the default here, and letting it go takes a written, signed, filed waiver made in open court.
- AdjudicationThe juvenile court finding that a child committed the act alleged. It is what that court does instead of convicting, and what follows it is called a disposition rather than a sentence.
- Brady materialEvidence favorable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment. Suppressing it violates due process regardless of whether the prosecution acted in good faith, and Giglio extends it to evidence impeaching a government witness.
- DiscoveryThe exchange of evidence between the parties in a criminal case. On receipt of a written demand the prosecuting attorney provides the categories the rule lists, including statements, records, lab results and officer reports.
- Public recordA record kept by a public office that the office makes available for inspection promptly and copies at cost, unless a statute exempts it. Everybody is a requester on the same terms, and nobody has to explain why they want one.
- Reciprocal discoveryThe defendant's duty to provide the state the same categories of material, triggered by having demanded discovery in the first place.
- No contestA plea that admits the truth of the facts alleged rather than guilt. It leaves a pretrial ruling appealable and, as a rule, cannot be used against the person in a later civil or criminal proceeding.