Gunnell v. Lazaroff - Ohio Supreme Court Opinion - Ohio Supreme Court Decision

	ROMINGER LEGAL
		Ohio Court Cases and Opinions - Ohio Legal Research
					Need Legal Help?
					Need Legal Help?
LEGAL RESEARCH CENTER
LEGAL RESEARCH CENTER			LEGAL HEADLINES - CASE LAW - LEGAL FORMS	NOT FINDING WHAT YOU NEED? -RESEARCH

This court case was taken from the web sites of the Ohio Courts. Search our site for more cases - CLICK HERE

LEGAL RESEARCH

COURT REPORTERS

PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS

PROCESS SERVERS

DOCUMENT RETRIEVERS

EXPERT WITNESSES

Find a Private Investigator

Find an Expert Witness

Find a Process Server

Case Law - save on Lexis / WestLaw.

Legal News - Legal Headlines

[Cite as Gunnell v. Lazaroff, 90 Ohio St.3d 76, 2000-Ohio-26.]

GUNNELL, APPELLANT, v. LAZAROFF, WARDEN, APPELLEE.
[Cite as Gunnell v. Lazaroff (2000), 90 Ohio St.3d 76.]
Habeas corpus relief sought to compel release from Orient Correctional
Institution -- Court of appeals' dismissal of petition affirmed.
(No. 00-740 -- Submitted August 22, 2000 -- Decided September 20, 2000.)
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Pickaway County, No. 00CA14.

In June 1992, appellant, Kevin B. Gunnell, was indicted on one count of
aggravated murder and one count of aggravated robbery with accompanying
firearm specifications. Gunnell pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, which had
been stipulated to be a lesser included offense of the aggravated murder charge. In
July 1992, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas convicted Gunnell of
involuntary manslaughter and sentenced him to a prison term of six to twenty-five
years.

In May 1999, Gunnell filed a postsentence motion to withdraw his guilty
plea. Gunnell claimed that he should be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea
because the state presented evidence of an uncharged offense, i.e., complicity or
"co-defendant/joint offender" under Crim.R. 8(B). The common pleas court
denied Gunnell's motion.

In February 2000, Gunnell filed a petition in the Court of Appeals for
Pickaway County for a writ of habeas corpus to compel appellee, Orient
Correctional Institution Warden Alan Lazaroff, to release Gunnell from prison.
Gunnell claims entitlement to the writ because his indictment failed to charge the
offense for which he was convicted and thus rendered his conviction and sentence
void. The court of appeals dismissed the petition.

This cause is now before the court upon an appeal as of right.
__________________

Kevin B. Gunnell, pro se.

Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, and Diane Mallory, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
__________________

Per Curiam. We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. Gunnell's
claims challenge the validity and sufficiency of his indictment and should have
been raised by an alternative remedy in the ordinary course of law, e.g., appeal,
rather than by extraordinary writ. See Orr v. Mack (1998), 83 Ohio St.3d 429, 430,
700 N.E.2d 590, 591; Wilkerson v. Mitchell (1999), 87 Ohio St.3d 52, 716 N.E.2d
1157, 1158. Further, the indictment did charge Taylor with aggravated murder and
aggravated robbery, and he entered a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter,
which is a lesser included offense of the charged offense of aggravated murder.

2

State v. Thomas (1988), 40 Ohio St.3d 213, 533 N.E.2d 286, paragraph one of the
syllabus. An accused can properly plead guilty to a lesser included offense of the
charge for which he was indicted, and habeas corpus will not lie to challenge a
conviction on this plea. Crockett v. Haskins (1965), 2 Ohio St.2d 322, 31 O.O.2d
580, 208 N.E.2d 744. Therefore, Gunnell was not convicted and sentenced upon
an uncharged offense.
Judgment affirmed.

MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur.

3