The Ohio Public Defender’s office applauded the decision.
"We're very open about how important this decision is for kids," said Jill Beeler, deputy director of the appellate services division at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender.
The state supreme court’s decision was based on an appeal brought by Matthew Aalim, who was 16 when he was charged with a robbery in Montgomery County in 2013. Aalim’s case was transferred to adult court and he pleaded no contest, was convicted on two counts and sentenced to concurrent four-year prison terms.
Aalim is serving his time at Lebanon Correctional Institution with adult prisoners.
It’s unkown how many cases the decision on transfers would have changed or how many cases currently working their way through the judicial system it may affect, Beeler said. Data on such cases is not centrally kept but typically housed in the common pleas courts of each of Ohio’s 88 counties.
The elimination of mandatory transfers means an additional court hearing would have to take place to determine if a minor’s case should be moved to an adult court.
Beeler’s office sees the decision as giving power back to the judiciary system. The decision, Beeler said, is “supportive of the juvenile court system as it was created.”
“What mandatory laws do is they treat every person the same,” Beeler said. “The judge really had no say. This decision brings back judiciary discretion.”
The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association is at odds with the Office of Ohio Public Defender over the recent ruling.
The concept of mandatory transfers, which pertained only to murder suspects and first-degree felony cases, was a “very focused statute,” said John Murphy, executive director of the association.
“We think kids committing those kinds of offenses should serve the time for those offenses,” Murphy said.
Mandatory transfers “serve a good purpose,” Murphy said. Murphy said he hopes the state files to have the ruling reconsidered so mandatory transfers are restored.
The supreme court’s decision could impact a local case in which Quentin Lavar Brown Jr., 17, of Dayton, is accused of killing Benjamin Werner, 32, of Lebanon.
The ruling creates “an additional layer for everyone, including the court,” Montgomery County assistant prosecutor Dan Brandt told this news organization.
Along with the decision on transfers, the state supreme court ruled on another case in favor of juveniles given “functional life sentences,” or lengthy sentences that make it likely a juvenile will die in prison.
The court ruled the often decades-long sentences are the same thing as life sentences without parole, a sentence prohibited for a minor unless he or she is convicted of homicide.
Both rulings, Beeler said, indicate a shift in attitudes toward the criminal justice system. The decision on “functional life sentences” follows a trend stretching across the country, she said.
“They really took hold in the 1990s with tough on crime laws,” Beeler said. “It really was an age where come children were considered super predators.”
While Murphy and the state association of prosecutors are firm in their opinion of mandatory transfers, they have not determined a stance on the ruling for functional life sentences.
“We haven’t really thought it through,” Murphy said. “We do have a lot of questions here though.”
Julie Bruns, chief juvenile prosecutor for Montgomery County, could not be reached to comment for this story.
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