Ohio Court of Appeals, 2024

State v. Drummond

State v. Drummond
Ohio Court of Appeals · Decided January 22, 2024 · Trapp
2024 Ohio 215

State v. Drummond

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Drummond, 2024-Ohio-215.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO ELEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT ASHTABULA COUNTY STATE OF OHIO, CASE NO. 2023-A-0071 Plaintiff-Appellee, Civil Appeal from the - vs - Court of Common Pleas JOHN E. DRUMMOND, Trial Court No. 2013 CR 00068 Defendant-Appellant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION Decided: January 22, 2024 Judgment: Appeal dismissed

Colleen M. O’Toole, Ashtabula County Prosecutor, 25 West Jefferson Street, Jefferson, OH 44047 (For Plaintiff-Appellee).

John E. Drummond, pro se, PID# A462-868, Chillicothe Correctional Institution, 15802 OH-104, P.O. Box 5500, Chillicothe, OH 45601 (Defendant-Appellant).

MARY JANE TRAPP, J.

{¶1} On December 13, 2023, appellant, John E. Drummond, pro se, filed a pleading captioned as “Delay to file Crim.R. 33(B) Motion for Leave to file Notice of Appeal,” construed by this court as a notice of appeal.

{¶2} Attached to appellant’s notice is an August 10, 2023 judgment entry. In the entry, the trial court treated appellant’s pro se motions as petitions for postconviction relief and denied them without a hearing. {¶3} A timely notice of appeal from the August 10, 2023 entry was due no later than September 11, 2023, which was not a holiday or weekend. The appeal is untimely by over three months.

{¶4} “* * * [a] party who wishes to appeal from an order that is final upon its entry shall file the notice of appeal required by App.R. 3 within 30 days of that entry.” App.R. 4(A)(1).

{¶5} Postconviction proceedings are considered civil in nature. State v. Nichols, 11 Ohio St.3d 40 (1984) 41, 42; see also State v. Jones, 11th Dist. Ashtabula No. 2021- A-0012, 2021-Ohio-1696, ¶ 6.

{¶6} App.R. 4(A)(3) states in relevant part: {¶7} “In a civil case, if the clerk has not completed service of notice of the judgment within the three-day period prescribed in Civ.R. 58(B), the 30-day periods referenced in App.R. 4(A)(1) and 4(A)(2) begin to run on the date when the clerk actually completes service.”

{¶8} Here, there is a notation on the docket reflecting that the clerk mailed a copy of the entry to appellant on August 10, 2023, the same date the entry was filed. Thus, the time for filing the notice of appeal began to run on that date. The time requirement is jurisdictional in nature and may not be enlarged by an appellate court. State ex rel.

Pendell v. Adams Cty. Bd. of Elections, 40 Ohio St.3d 58, 60 (1988); App.R. 14(B).

{¶9} Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed, sua sponte, as untimely.

MATT LYNCH, J., JOHN J. EKLUND, J., concur.

Case No. 2023-A-0071

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.