Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Time Limits and reschedules

my son is charged with 2cts of felonious assults. after complaints from me repeatedly, the prosecutor wants my son to waive his rights and stay n jail while they re do the investigation. he has had one grand jury meeting rescheduld the witness didnt show. how many times can they reschedule and is it true that after 28 if he hasnt been officially charged does he have to be let out of jail. also can the grand jury change the charge or must they indict on the charges in front of them. if they dont have a witnss in person can they use written statements even though like i said the prosecutor wants to do some re investigating. i guess my main concern is how long can they hold him and how many times can they reschedule or postpone.tnx sincerly--name removed---name removed--dayton, oh 45403 937-252-8540


Asked on 5/30/05, 10:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Cline Office of the Ohio Public Defender

Re: Time Limits and reschedules

You do not say how old your son is, and that is important. If he is 18 years old or older, it works like this.

The grand jury can consider any evidence before it, including written statements from witnesses who do not appear, hearsay statements offered by the police, and other such evidence that is not admissible in court.

The grand jury can chose to return a "no bill of indictment" (meaning that no charge is filed), or they can return a "bill of indictment" (meaning that your son has been charged with one or more offenses). If the grand jury returns a bill of indictment, then they could charge the same offenses upon which your son was arrested, or they could modify those charges to make them more severe or less severe.

Once an adult has been arrested, the State of Ohio has 270 days to take the case to trial. Every day spent in jail counts as 3 days toward that speedy trial limit, and there are ways to extend the time beyond 270 days. However, if your son or his lawyer does not do anything that extends the speedy trial time, the State of Ohio must begin the trial of his case within 90 days of his arrest. Therefore, the State will often indict within the first 30 days.

There are some additional time limits (much shorter) that apply to when an indictment must be returned. If you have questions, please email me directly and we can discuss those.

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Answered on 5/31/05, 7:31 am


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