Update: On May 5, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in this case.  Read the analysis here.

The Supreme Court of Ohio heard oral argument in in State of Ohio v. Brad J. Dangler, 2017-1703 on February 20, 2019, now over a year ago. At issue in the case was whether a trial court must inform a defendant of all penalties associated with a sex offender classification to comply with Crim.R. 11’s requirement that a defendant enter a plea knowingly and voluntarily.

This case was accepted on conflict certification. This is the certified question:

 “During a plea proceeding, does the failure of the sentencing court to inform a defendant of all the penalties associated with a sex offender classification imposed by R.C. Chapter 2950 constitute a complete failure to comply with Crim.R. 11 and render the plea void without the need to show prejudice resulted?”

This isn’t the first time a case has been undecided for a year or more.  When that happens it usually means the decision won’t write, there’s no consensus, or minds keep changing.

Read the oral argument preview of the case here and the analysis of the argument here.