Well, that was quick. On January 23, 2019, two weeks after it was argued, by a vote of 5-2, the Supreme Court of Ohio dismissed State v. Amos 2017-1778, as improvidently accepted. See, State v. Amos, Slip Opinion No. 2019-Ohio-168. The issue in the case was whether a juvenile court has jurisdiction to hold a classification review hearing after a juvenile has been discharged from parole. Voting to dismiss were Justices French, DeWine, Donnelly, Stewart, and Judge Osowik, sitting for Justice Fischer. Dissenting were Chief Justice O’Connor and Justice Kennedy.

I’m really not all that surprised that the case got kicked.  The case was a procedural mess, and as noted on the blog, the state’s argument was messy and very hard to follow. Waiver was also a very big problem for the state.

If there is a winner here, it is Mr. Amos, since dismissal of this appeal means the Court of Appeals decision stands. The First District Court of Appeals  majority affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of two indictments against Amos for failure to comply with the registration requirements for a Tier I juvenile offender-registrant.  Amos successfully argued to the lower courts that he had no duty to register because the juvenile court had no authority to classify him after his juvenile disposition and parole had ended.

You can read the oral argument preview of the case here and an analysis of the argument here.