State v. Porterfield

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[Cite as State v. Porterfield, 2014-Ohio-2225.] IN THE COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT TRUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, : MEMORANDUM OPINION : CASE NO. 2014-T-0005 - vs - : ERIC PORTERFIELD, Defendant-Appellant. : : Criminal Appeal from the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 00 CR 402. Judgment: Appeal dismissed. Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County Prosecutor, Administration Building, Fourth Floor, 160 High Street, N.W., Warren, OH 44481-1092. (For Plaintiff-Appellee). Eric Lee Porterfield, pro se, PID: A420502, Mansfield Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 788, 1150 North Main Street, Mansfield, OH 44901. (Defendant-Appellant). THOMAS R. WRIGHT, J. {¶1} Appellant, Eric Porterfield, a vexatious litigator, filed a motion to challenge the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice before the trial court and requested leave to proceed. The trial court overruled appellant s motion for leave concluding the substantive motion had no good faith basis to succeed. {¶2} Appellant, thereafter, appealed the trial court s judgment and moves this court for leave to proceed on his appeal. In opposing appellant s motion for leave to proceed, the State of Ohio correctly asserts that the trial court s judgment is not reviewable by way of direct appeal. {¶3} In a judgment dated July 5, 2013, the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas declared appellant a vexatious litigator. Watkins v. Porterfield, 11th Dist. Trumbull No. 2013-T-0091, 2013-Ohio-5850, ¶1. Therefore, appellant cannot institute a new legal proceeding or continue a previously instituted proceeding without first obtaining leave from the common pleas court. R.C. 2323.52(F)(1). As to whether the denial of a motion for leave to proceed can be reviewed in a direct appeal, R.C. 2323.52(G) provides: {¶4} No appeal by the person who is the subject of * * * [a vexatious litigator] order shall lie from a decision of the court of common pleas * * * that denies that person leave for the institution or continuance of, or the making of an application in, legal proceedings in the * * * court of common pleas * * *. {¶5} Thus, no appeal lies. Whipps v. Ryan, 10th Dist. Franklin Nos. 12AP-685 and 12AP-722, 2013-Ohio-4382, ¶14, quoting Helfrich v. Madison, 5th Dist. Licking No. 08-CA-150, 2009-Ohio-55140, ¶30. {¶6} Appellant s motion for leave to pursue an appeal is denied and his appeal is dismissed. DIANE V. GRENDELL, J., concurs, COLLEEN MARY O TOOLE, J., concurs in judgment only. 2

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