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James A. Gideon v. Ohio

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Ohio, No. 2019-1104 · judgment December 15, 2020


Certiorari denied · October 4, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Whether a professional license holder’s objectively reasonable, subjective belief that assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination during a disciplinary investigation will result in revocation or suspension of his license is sufficient to trigger application of the exclusionary rule announced in Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967)? Whether a professional license holder’s subjective belief that assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination will result in revocation or suspension of his license is objectively reasonable where a state statute expressly authorizes such a penalty for refusing to cooperate and truthfully answer questions during a disciplinary investigation, and a disciplinary investigator abuses his authority under the statute for the purpose of obtaining an admission for use in a criminal prosecution?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Dennis C. Belli

For respondent
Anthony L. Geiger
City of Lima, Ohio Law Department

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 04 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 16 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
  3. Jun 07 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent State of Ohio to respond filed.
  4. May 29 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 6, 2021)