State ex rel. Taylor v. Montgomery Cty. Court of Common Pleas
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The case centers on an appeal by the appellant, Gudonavon J. Taylor, who petitioned for a writ of prohibition against the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas (the trial court). Taylor argued that the trial court had no jurisdiction to convict him of and sentence him for felony murder in 2010. He claimed that the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to convict him on one of his murder counts. The Second District Court of Appeals dismissed the petition, and Taylor appealed to the Supreme Court of Ohio.
The Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed the decision of the Second District Court of Appeals. The court concluded that the trial court had jurisdiction to convict Taylor of felony murder under R.C. 2903.02(B). Even if Taylor's claim that he could not have committed a predicate offense necessary for the conviction was correct, this would have been an error in the exercise of jurisdiction, not in the lack of it. As Taylor was unable to demonstrate that the trial court patently and unambiguously lacked jurisdiction, he was not entitled to a writ of prohibition. The court also denied Taylor's request for oral argument.
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