State ex rel. McGinty v. Eighth Dist. Court of Appeals
Annotate this CaseLance Mason, a sitting Cuyahoga county Court of Common Pleas judge, was indicted on three counts of felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of endangering children, and one count of domestic violence. Mason filed a pretrial motion to disqualify the prosecutor’s office and appoint a special prosecutor. The trial judge denied the motion, finding that Mason had not shown the requisite “actual prejudice” that would justify the disqualification of the entire prosecutor’s office and that there was no conflict of interest shown. Mason appealed. The Eighth District Court of Appeals issued a stay of the trial court proceedings to consider whether it had jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. Timothy McGinty, the prosecutor, filed this original action in prohibition, arguing that the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to entertain the appeal and to issue the stay. The Supreme Court granted the writ, holding that the Court of Appeals patently and unambiguously lacks jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from a denial of a motion to disqualify the prosecutor in a criminal case.
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