Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Re: Motion for discovery/Issuing a subpoena

Motions should be typewritten and filed with the Clerk of Courts, then serve a copy on the prosecutor. The materials available via discovery are listed in Criminal Rule 16, and you must make a specific request.

Subpoenas can been obtained from most Clerk of Courts offices, then completed and filed with the Clerk for the Sheriff to serve. However, you must verify the local practice in your Court, as some jurisdictions will not serve the subpoenas for you unless you pre-pay the service fee. Also, you must be aware of the time needed for the Sheriff to serve the subpoena. If you file too late, the Clerk might accept it and give it to the Sheriff, but it might not be served in time to make sure that the witness you want to testify is at trial.

You do not indicate what level of offense you are charged with. If the offense involves a risk of jail or prison, you should reconsider your decision not to have an attorney. There are already too many innocent people in prison because they were unable to unwilling to hire an attorney -- don't add to that population.

Best of luck in your case.