Clarke v. McFaul, 89436 (4-5-2007)
Clarke v. McFaul, 89436 (4-5-2007)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 1} On February 16, 2007, the petitioner, Oniel Clarke, commenced this habeas corpus action against the respondent, Sheriff Gerald McFaul. Clarke maintains that he should be immediately released from confinement for the following reasons: (1) he was never in Ohio so could not be answerable for a crime in Ohio; (2) the State of Ohio knowingly sent a summons to the wrong address, thus depriving him of due process to be notified of a pending case, (3) he was not given a preliminary hearing as required by Crim. R. 5 or given the opportunity to exercise his rights under Crim. R. 6 and 7, and (4) the state violated his right to a speedy trial. On February 20, 2007, the state moved to dismiss this habeas action. Clarke never filed a response. For the following reasons, this court grants the motion to dismiss.
{¶ 2} As gleaned from the pleadings, their attachments, and the docket of the underlying case, State v. Oniel Clarke, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Case No. CR. 466666, the Grand Jury on June 9, 2005, indicted Clarke for grand theft motor vehicle, forgery, uttering, receiving stolen property, and three counts of misuse of a credit card. Clarke was in a Florida prison from October 31, 2004, until December 20, 2005. On January 21, 2006, Clarke was arrested in Florida, and he refused to waive extradition. Accordingly, Ohio extradited Clarke and brought him to Ohio on September 27, 2006. The Common Pleas Court conducted the arraignment on September 29, 2006, and set bond at $10,000. While in jail awaiting trial, Clarke filed a habeas claim in the underlying case as well as motions to dismiss *Page 3 and quash the indictments. When the trial court denied those motions, Clarke appealed those decisions to this court, which dismissed the appeal, State v. Oniel Clarke, Cuyahoga App. No. 89185, for failure to file a praecipe. Clarke then filed this habeas action.
{¶ 3} Clarke's petition for habeas relief is fatally defective. He failed to comply with R.C.
{¶ 4} Clarke also did not comply with R.C.
{¶ 5} Additionally, Clarke failed to support his complaint with an affidavit "specifying the details of the claim" as required by Local Rule 45(B)(1)(a). State ex rel. Wilson v. Calabrese (Jan. 18, 1996), Cuyahoga App. No. 70077 and State ex rel. Smith v. McMonagle (July 17, 1996), Cuyahoga App. No. 70899. He also did not verify his petition for habeas corpus, as required by R.C.
{¶ 6} Moreover, Clarke's claims do not warrant habeas relief. He argues that he should be discharged because he did not have a preliminary hearing pursuant to Crim. R. 5. However, an indictment by the grand jury renders any defects in the preliminary hearing moot.State v. Washington (1986),
{¶ 7} Clarke also argues that he has not been provided with a speedy trial as required by law. However, the Supreme Court of Ohio has ruled that a claimed violation of the right to a speedy trial is not cognizable in habeas corpus. State ex rel. Brantley v. Ghee,
{¶ 8} Clarke further argues that habeas corpus should be granted because he was never in Ohio and thus, could not be convicted of an Ohio criminal offense. However, questions of proof are not cognizable in a habeas corpus proceeding. Spence v. Sacks (1962),
{¶ 9} Clarke also submits that because he was not even given the opportunity to exercise his rights under Crim. R. 6, The Grand Jury, he should be immediately *Page 6
released. However, he does not specify those rights or how he is prejudiced by not being able to exercise them. More importantly, he cites no authority that any violation of Crim. R. 6 is remediable through habeas corpus or that a failure under Crim. R. 6 affects the jurisdiction of the common pleas court. As the Supreme Court stated inChari "in order to avoid dismissal, a petitioner must state with particularity the extraordinary circumstances entitling him to habeas corpus relief. * * * (citation omitted.) Unsupported conclusions contained in a habeas corpus petition are not considered admitted and are insufficient to withstand dismissal."
{¶ 10} Similarly, Clarke's claim concerning his right to waive indictment under Crim. R. 7, The Indictment and the Information, is meritless. Once the Grand Jury indicted him, his right to waive became moot. Moreover, habeas corpus is not available to challenge either the validity or sufficiency of an indictment; the proper remedy is appeal.Marshall v. Lazaroff,
{¶ 11} Finally, Clarke complains that the State of Ohio deprived him of due process under the Constitution when it sent notice of the indictment to an old address in New York, when the State of Ohio knew he was in Florida. This legal *Page 7
conclusion unsupported by other legal authority is insufficient to withstand the State's motion to dismiss and does not discharge Clarke's duty to state with particularity the extraordinary circumstances entitling him to habeas relief. Chari. Moreover, the Supreme Court of Ohio has indicated that a motion to dismiss is the proper remedy for a claim that the State has not sought timely disposition of a pending criminal charge. State ex rel. Bowling v. Court of Common Pleas ofHamilton County (1970),
{¶ 12} Accordingly, this court grants the Sheriff's motion to dismiss and dismisses Clarke's application for a writ of habeas corpus. Clarke to pay costs. The clerk is directed to serve upon the parties notice of this judgment and its date of entry upon the journal. Civ.R. 58(B).
*Page 1JAMES J. SWEENEY, P.J., and SEAN C. GALLAGHER, J., CONCUR
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Oniel Clarke, Relator v. Sheriff Gerald T. McFaul
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published